A beneficiary gets inoculated against Covid-19 at a vaccination center in Navi Mumbai. (Express photo by Amit Chakravarty) THE LATEST genome sequencing report showed that the new variant Omicron has replaced its predecessor Delta variant in Covid-19 cases reported from Mumbai. All the 237 samples sequenced at the civic-run Kasturba Gandhi Hospital have been detected with the subtypes of Omicron.
“Considering that Omicron is less deadly than Delta variants, it is a good sign that Omicron has completely replaced the previous strain. This can be attributed to the flattening of the pandemic curve,” said Suresh Kakani, Additional Commissioner, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). “We are expecting that number of daily cases will drop further,” he added.
Of 237 patients whose samples were taken for the tenth genome sequencing, six had received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and one had to be hospitalised. Out of the 128 patients, who were immunised with both doses, seven had to be admitted to a hospital. Of these, one required hospitalisation and another had to get admitted to ICU. The remaining 103 patients were unvaccinated, and 18 of them required hospitalisation while two were admitted to ICU.
The figures are in sharp contrast to the sixth genome sequencing conducted in the second week of December when only two per cent of the sequenced samples showed the presence of Omicron. Soon, the more transmissible variant started replacing the old one as seen globally.
In the seventh genome sequencing, the presence of Omicron surged to 55 per cent as 156 samples out of 282 samples were identified with it. While the other 89 samples (32 per cent) and 37 (13 per cent) had Delta derivatives and Delta variants, respectively.
Out of the 280 samples from Mumbai in the eighth genome sequencing, 248 or 89 per cent had the presence of Omicron. Out of the remaining 21 samples (8 per cent) had Delta derivatives. The remaining 11 samples (3 per cent) had other subtypes.
In the ninth genome sequencing conducted in the second week of February 180 samples out of 190 (94.74 per cent) showed the presence of Omicron.
The remaining 10 samples, four samples (2.22 per cent) had Delta derivatives. The remaining six samples (3.16 per cent) had other subtypes.
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