HYDERABAD: Telangana has shifted rapidly towards the Omicron variant, virtually replacing Delta altogether.
This was revealed in the latest GISAID data where nearly 87 per cent of all samples sequenced between January 1 to 5 were of Omicron variant.
The data is from 103 samples sequenced at Gandhi Medical College, which recently started genome sequencing.
Of the 103 samples sequenced during this period, 90 showed Omicron variant and 13 were of Delta, which dominated the state for the last six months.
Of the 90 Omircon samples, 19 were of BA.1 sub-lineage and 69 of BA.2 sub-lineage. These findings are in line with the international sequencing results wherein 90 per cent of the samples are of Omicron variant.
However, one of the most concerning aspects is the rapid rate at which Omicron gripped the state. It may be recalled that the first officially known case of local transmission was found on December 20.
Within a span of 11 days, the majority of the sequenced samples began turning out to be Omicron variants. These samples also appear to be from local PHCs like Gandhi UPHC, Barkas, Bhoiguda, Musheerabad, Picket and Trimulgherry.
The GISAID data also shows that with the introduction of Gandhi Medical College into the genome sequencing protocol, now it is taking just five to six days to get the results as against 14 days it used to take previously.
This is three times faster than the usual rate in Telanag-ana, which was earlier dependent on CCMB and CDFD that also cater to genome sequencing needs of other states.
Meanwhile, administration of “precaution dose” continued with 24,685 taking the same.
About 13,69,412 citizens are due for this dose as of date. In terms of vaccination for young adults aged 15-17 years, 43 per cent of the target population was covered with 7.95 lakh jabs.