Bhubaneswar, Jan 24 (PTI) Odisha is heading towards community transmission of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 like some other parts of the country, a senior health official said here on Monday.
Public Health Director Niranjan Mishra said that Omicron infections comprised 60 per cent of daily cases last week, and it could be more now, indicating that the state is heading towards community transmission of the new strain.
“We will soon get data on the present rate of Omicron infection among new COVID-19 cases,” he said.
Mishra said that when more cases of new variants are found among local people having no international travel history, it should be considered as community transmission.
“It has been noticed that around 80-90 per cent of new infections in metro cities in the country are Omicron cases. The situation is similar is Odisha too. As per the last genome sequencing reports, 60 per cent of local infected samples were found carrying the Omicron strain and the percentage has certainly increased now. Therefore, we have to wait for the analysis report,” he said.
Former director of DMET (Directorate of Medical Education and Training) Professor CBK Mohanty said that Omicron is fast replacing previous Delta and Delta Plus variants in the state.
A total of 347 Omicron cases were reported in the state till January 19, with 145 fresh infections of the strain recorded on that date. The state government has not issued fresh data since then. PTI AAM ACD ACD
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