Bhubaneswar: Samples tested using Omisure kits have revealed 33.31 per cent prevalence of Omicron in the state, Public Health Director Niranjan Mishra informed on Thursday.
“A total of 31,666 samples were tested. While results of 1,729 were positive and 576 among them were found infected with the highly-transmissible Omicron variant,” he said.
The Public Health Director said the report will be compared with the genome sequencing report, which will then give a clear picture of the prevalence of Omicron in the state.
Notably, Odisha is among three states in India where both Delta and Omicron variants of COVID are prevalent.
The state had reported a sharp spike in Omicron cases on January 19 when 147 samples tested positive for this variant of COVID-19 after being sequenced at the Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), taking the total to 347. The tests were halted thereafter after some scientists tested positive for the virus.
Furthermore, an analysis of community samples by ILS had revealed that Omicron was fast replacing the Delta variant of COVID-19 as around 60 per cent of those collected randomly from 10 districts between January 9 and January 16 carried the highly mutated and more transmissible SARS-CoV2.
Odisha began the trial run of Omisure kit last month, after receiving the first lot of 30,000 of the 5 lakh kits, which it had ordered on January 10, becoming the first-ever state in India to buy OmiSure developed by Tata Medical and Diagnostics Ltd in partnership with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Mishra further said that there has been slight variation in new cases in the state, which is witnessing a declining trend and the number of active cases has also dropped. “The daily COVID cases has been remaining slightly above 3,000 and the number of tests was also increased yesterday. The situation is therefore under control,” he said.
Odisha reported fresh infections below 4000 for the fourth consecutive day on Thursday with 3,629 people testing positive for the virus during the last 24 hours against 3,450 the previous day.
A total of 66,702 samples were tested on Wednesday and 59,040 samples on Tuesday.
Odisha now has 35,306 active cases.
A decision on reopening schools will be taken after assessing the COVID situation in the state and with adherence to HC order, he added.
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