New Omicron variants are not causing case spike or mortality: Govt

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has initiated random testing of international travelers arriving at various Airports from December 24, 2022

The Union Health Ministry on Monday said that genomic sequencing of samples from sentinel sites showed that all the Omicron variants and its sub-lineages are present in India, but there has been neither any rise in mortality nor rise in transmission in the areas where these variants were detected.

Between December 29 and January 7 Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP) sentinel sites referred 324 Covid-19 positive samples for sequencing to 22 INSACOG labs.

“Sentinel sequencing of these positive samples lifted from the community revealed presence of all the omicron variants like BA.2 and its sub-lineages including BA.2.75, XBB (37), BQ.1&