Aizawl: At least 62 cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19 have been detected in Mizoram for the first time in the state since the highly transmissible COVID-19 variant was first discovered in southern Africa in November and spread to the country in December last year, an official said on Monday.
Official spokesperson on COVID-19 Dr. Pachuau Lalmalsawma said that the state health department on Monday received the results of 122 samples sent to the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics in West Bengal for genome sequencing in January this year.
The samples were collected from COVID-19 positive patients from Aizawl, Khawzawl, Kolasib, Saitual and Serchhip districts, he said.
“Of the 122 samples, 62 samples, all from Aizawl district, have come out positive for Omicron variant of COVID-19,” Pachuau, who is also the state nodal officer of Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) said.
Besides, 12 samples have come out positive for Delta variant and 18 others have tested positive for Delta sub-variants among the 122 samples, he said.
None of the samples collected from Khawzawl, Kolasib, Saitual and Serchhip came out positive for Omicron, he said.
Pachuau said that at least 300 samples of COVID-19 patients were sent to the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics for genome sequencing on February 12 and results are awaited.
Results of some samples sent in January are also yet to be received, he added.
Mizoram on Monday reported 577 new COVID-19 cases- 654 less than the previous day- taking the state’s tally to 1,96,997, according to the state health department.
The death toll rose to 637 as one more person has succumbed to the infection in the last 24 hours, it said. At least 1,988 people have recovered from the infection in the last 24 hours, taking the total recoveries to 1,86,504, it said.
The single-day positivity rate increased to 32.25 per cent from 26.79 per cent the previous day, it said. The northeastern state now has 9,856 COVID-19 active cases.The recovery rate among COVID-19 patients is 94.67 per cent and the death rate is 0.32 per cent.
The state has so far tested more than 17.57 lakh samples for COVID-19 and out of this 1,789 samples were tested on Sunday.
According to state immunisation officer Dr. Lalmuanawma Jongte, over 8 lakh people have been inoculated till Saturday and 6.32 lakh of them have received the full dose.
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