First Indian study provides evidence of Omicron's community transmission
1 min read 15 Jan 2022, 04:04 PM ISTIndia has far reported over 6,000 cases of Omicron
PremiumOmicron transmission: A study conducted in India has found evidence of community spread of Omicron variant in the country, news agency ANI reported on Saturday. India has far reported over 6,000 cases of Omicron, but recently Niti Aayog's VK Paul said that rise in infections in India was part of global surge triggered by the new variant.
In India, most of the Omicron infected patients during the last week of December 2021 had no travel history which indicates that there was eventual community transmission, according to the study conducted by the Department of Clinical Virology, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, New Delhi.
The study noted that the respiratory specimen of all RT-PCR confirmed positive cases between November 25 -December 23, 2021, collected from five districts of Delhi were subjected to whole-genome sequencing.
"Complete demographic and clinical details were also recorded. Hence, we analysed the formation of local and familial clusters and eventual community transmission," it said.
The study also states that around 60.9% of Covid infected people showed a community spread.
"Out of the 264 cases during this study period, 68.9 per cent (n=182) were identified as Delta variant and its sub-lineages while 31.06 per cent (n=82) were Omicron variant with BA.1 as the predominant sub-lineage (73.1 per cent)," it stated.
Most of the Omicron cases were asymptomatic (n=50.61 per cent) and did not require any hospitalizations. "A total of 72 (87.8 per cent) cases were fully vaccinated. Around 39.1 per cent (n=32) had a history of travel or contacts while 60.9 per cent (n=50) showed a community transmission," it added.
The study shows a steep increase in the daily progression of Omicron cases with its preponderance in the community which was observed from 1.8% to 54%.
The news agency reported that as per the interpretation of the study, this is among the first from India to provide the evidence of community transmission of Omicron with significantly increased breakthrough infections, decreased hospitalization rates, and a lower rate of symptomatic infections among individuals with high seropositivity against Covid.
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