Delhi surge may be due to new Omicron sub-variant

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 21

The sudden rise in Covid cases in the national Capital may be due to a new sub-variant of Omicron detected in the majority samples in the first fortnight of April. The surge has caused the Delhi Disaster Management Authority to bring back the mask mandate and impose a Rs 500 penalty for violation.

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Omicron sub-variant BA.2.12 could be linked to the surge in and around the city, said a source in the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG), the umbrella body conducting advanced genome surveillance to determine the variant lineages of Covid-19 positive persons.

He said the Omicron variant BA.2.12.1 had been found in the Delhi samples — the same variant that had caused a spurt in cases in the US recently. The Health Ministry was silent on the issue.The Director, National Centre for Disease Control, SK Singh, did not respond to calls.

Sources said BA.2.12 (52% samples) and BA.2.10 (11% samples) with a higher transmission potential had been detected in 60 per cent of all Delhi samples with BA.2.12 prima facie having a growth advantage of 30 to 90 per cent a week over BA.2 (Omicron). A source said more than 300 samples had been subjected to genome surveillance in Delhi in the first fortnight of April.

Nationally, daily cases increased from 2,067 to 2,380 today and daily positivity went up to 0.53 per cent from 0.41 per cent on Wednesday.

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