Chennai, March 20 (BPNS)

The Tamil Nadu public health department has in a statement said that BA.2 Sub variant of Omicron was identified in 18.4% of samples sequenced in the state from January to March 2022. It is to be noted that the BA.2 sub-variant is driving the Covid -19 cases in the United Kingdom. The genomic analysis on the samples also found that the sub-variant BA.1.1 was identified in 43% of the samples while BA.1 sub-variant was found in 37.3% of the samples.

The health department also said that Omicron was the dominant variant in circulation in the state. The Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) at the State Public Health Laboratory showed that 93% of the 496 variants sequenced in the state were of Omicron variant.

The study also showed that 6.6% of the samples sequenced in the state were of Delta variant.

Tamil Nadu health secretary, J. Radhakrishnan while speaking to BPNS said, “ The Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) data was not meant to create any panic among the people. This is however to sensitize the people about the BA.2 variant.”

He also said that Tamil Nadu did not have much clinical difference between the two variants and said that people need to be cautious as in the last week several countries have recorded an increase in cases.