Till Feb 22, 80% Covid deaths sequenced found positive for Omicron

New Delhi: Eighty per cent of the samples taken from those who died of COVID-19 in Delhi till February 22 this year had the Omicron variant, according to government data. Genome sequencing of 239 samples collected from the deceased showed 191 of them with the Omicron variant.

The remaining 48 (20 per cent) had other variants of COVID-19, including Delta which fuelled the ferocious second wave of infections in April and May last year, and sub lineages. Overall, the Omicron variant was found in 92 per cent of the 626 samples analysed at genome sequencing

laboratories in the Capital till February 22 this year, according to the data. Two per cent of the samples had Delta, and other variants accounted for six per cent of the samples.

Meanwhile, Delhi on Friday reported 460 fresh COVID-19 cases and two deaths due to the disease, while the positivity rate dropped to 0.81 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department.