Govt. may not send all samples for genome sequencing: officials

Omicron variant detected in 53.6% of 125 local samples

Delhi government officials are mulling not to send all COVID-19 samples for genome sequencing as 53.6% of 125 samples collected from people in the city, who did not have a travel history, have been detected with Omicron variant of COVID-19, an official source told The Hindu.

These samples were collected during the past week and the genome sequencing was done on Monday and Tuesday by Delhi government-run Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS). The rest of the 125 samples were Delta variant of the virus and lineages.

“These 125 samples are from different labs in the city and not from the airport. This shows that there is transmission of the Omicron variant in the community and there is no point in sending all positive samples to check whether they are Omicron variant,” a Delhi government official said.