Covid-19 in Bulgaria: Omicron variant found in 760 of 803 samples sequenced by NCIPD
Bulgaria’s National Centre for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases (NCIPD) said on February 21 that it has found the Omicron coronavirus strain in 760 out of 803 samples taken from Covid-19 patients in the country, with the rest identified as having the Delta strain or its sub-variants.
The samples had been taken over a period of time ranging from January 20 to February 3 and came from 23 out of Bulgaria’s 28 districts.
The Omicron strain accounted for 94.6 per cent of the latest group of samples sequenced by NCIPD, up from 90.3 per cent in the previous batch announced by NCIPD last week.
Among the patients with the Omicron strain, 631 were undergoing treatment at home, 55 were in hospital, 68 had recovered and six had died, as of February 7-17, the NCIPD statement said.
Of the 43 patients with the Delta strain or its subvariants, 22 were undergoing home treatment, 14 were in hospital, five had recovered and two had died, as of February 1-7.
NCIPD said that among the Omicron cases, the BA.1 subvariant was the dominant one, identified in 431 cases, followed by the BA.1.1 subvariant with 291 cases and 38 cases of the BA.2 subvariant.
The largest number of samples, including both the Omicron and Delta strains, came from the district of Plovdiv (153), followed by the city of Sofia (141), the districts of Bourgas (113), Rousse (83), Stara Zagora (73) and Pazardzhik (53).
(Photo: Military Medical Academy)
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