COVID-19: The Omicron strain has become a dominant one across the world
Eighty-one per cent of all COVID-19 samples tested in Delhi are of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, the national capital's Health Minister said today.
Genome sequencing reports of December 30-31 have found Omicron strain in 81 per cent of samples, Health Minister Satyendar Jain told news agency PTI.
According to the health bulletin to be issued later on Monday, the capital has recorded around 4,000 new cases of coronavirus and the positivity rate has increased to 6.5 per cent, the minister said.
The Omicron variant has spread to 23 states in India. Maharashtra is the worst-affected state with 510 cases, followed by Delhi with 351 infections.
Mr Jain said there is no shortage of medical staff in state-run hospitals and clinics. COVID-19 cases have been rising in the city.
"As per genome sequencing reports of December 30-31 from three labs - at Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, Lok Nayak Hospital and National Centre for Disease Control - 81 per cent samples were infected with Omicron. Most of the cases are of Omicron," Mr Jain said in the Delhi assembly.
The city reported 3,194 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, 15 per cent higher than Saturday. One person died, taking the total number of fatalities since the beginning to pandemic to 25,109 till Sunday evening.
Mr Jain said though there is a spike in cases, the situation is under control as not many people are developing severe disease or require hospitalisation.
He said some experts have said the cases will peak in a week but it's only a conjecture as of now.