All 234 swab samples tested in the 16th genome sequencing series in Mumbai have been detected with the Omicron variant of coronavirus, including 36, or 15 per cent, with the XBB subvariant, a civic official said on Friday.
A Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation release said 14 per cent of the 234 samples, or 33 samples, have been found infected with the XBB.1 subvariant. "Of the 234 patients, 24 (10 per cent) were below 20 years of age, 94 (40 per cent) in the 21-40 age segment, 69 (29 per cent) in the 41-60 age group, 36 (15 per cent) between 61 and 80 years of age, and 11 (5 per cent) are above 81 years," the civic release informed.
Giving further break-up of the age of the patients whose samples were genome sequenced, the release said 16 were below the age of 18, three were below five years, six were in the 6-12 age group and six were in the 14-18 age segment. It said 87 of 234 patients had not taken the COVID-19 vaccine, and 15 of them had to be hospitalised, though none of them needed ICU admission.
Of the 147 patients who had been vaccinated, seven had to be hospitalised, while two patients died in private hospitals due to comorbidities, including one who was 88 years old, the release added. The BMC's public health department said there was no reason to panic on account of these subvariants but asked people to strictly adhere to COVID appropriate behaviour and follow steps taken by authorities to curb the spread of infection.
(With PTI inputs)
