The Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus has been found in 77 per cent of people in Bengal whose swab samples were tested to find out the variant of the virus infecting them, a senior official of the state health department said on Thursday.
The official said that 1,499 Covid positive samples were tested till January 2, out of which 77.2 per cent samples had the omicron variant.
“We have received genome sequencing report for 1,499 cases, till January 2. It was found that 77.2% were of omicron variant, rest were delta,” said Ajay Chakraborty, the state government’s director of health services.
The genome sequencing is done to ascertain what variant of the novel coronavirus has infected a person. The National Institute of Biomedical Genomics in Kalyani is the only institute in Bengal that conducts the genome sequencing of samples.
Only samples of people who tested positive for Covid and had recent foreign travel history are sent for genome sequencing, as per the existing guidelines of the state health department, said a senior official of a hospital.
Doctors said that the results of genome sequencing tests show that the highly transmissible omicron variant is now prevalent in the state and is the likely reason behind the sharp rise in Covid cases.
“Short-span fever, mostly mild fever, body ache and headache are the most common symptoms. It seems that these are the symptoms of those who are getting infected by the omicron variant,” said a doctor.
“The common symptoms during the second wave when the delta variant was prevalent were more severe. More people developed severe disease then than now with symptoms like breathlessness, drop in oxygen levels and loss of taste and smell,” added the doctor.
A public health expert said that there is still no reason to drop guard. There is no reason to think that everything is mild, added the expert.
“More than one-fifth of those who have tested positive for Covid are still getting infected by the delta variant that had led to many deaths in the last wave,” said the public health expert.