BHUBANESWAR: Within a month and half of its first detection in Odisha, Omicron has become the completely dominant SARS-Cov-2 strain in the State. As high as 98 per cent (pc) of the samples drawn from different districts and sequenced were found to be Omicron sub-types, as per the latest genome sequencing data released by the Institute of Life Sciences here on Thursday.
The sequencing data revealed, 235 of the 241 Covid-19 positive samples were found to be positive for the highly transmissible variant Omicron. The samples were collected between January 27 and February 4 from 18 districts including Khurda, Sundargarh and Cuttack, which reported more than 500 cases a day for nearly a month. Other districts included in the cycle were Puri, Ganjam, Gajapati, Nayagarh, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Angul, Mayurbhanj and Nabarangpur.
The BA.2 sub-strain, commonly called the stealth Omicron, accounted for about 217 samples (92 pc), 12 BA.1.1 and six BA.1. The rest six were detected with Delta and its lineages. Out of the 47 samples from Ganjam, the maximum 46 samples were detected with BA.2 strain and one with BA.1.1. Delta variant has been found in four samples from Khurda and one each from Puri and Nayagarh.
As many as 44 out of 49 samples from Khurda, 27 out of 30 from Cuttack, 17 out of 17 from Mayurbhanj, 15 out of 16 in Nabarangpur, 13 out of 14 in Angul, 12 out of 12 in Kendrapara and 11 out of 16 in Gajapati were positive for BA.2. Four samples in Gajapati were found with sub-type BA.1.1.From 25.5 pc on January 10, the neutralisation of Omicron has increased almost four times in a month.
Around 76 pc samples were found to be Omicron positive on February 3.ILS Director Dr Ajay Parida said as predicted earlier, Omicron has replaced Delta in the State. The increase in Delta variant neutralisation in individuals infected with Omicron may result in decreased ability of Delta to re-infect those individuals. “If no new variant emerges and people do not let their guard down, Covid may become endemic soon,” he added.The ILS will conduct the genome sequencing of samples found negative for Omicron in OmiSure RT-PCR kits next week.