Covid-19 in Bulgaria: Omicron variant found in all but one of 270 samples – NCIPD
Bulgaria’s National Centre for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases (NCIPD) said on March 18 that it has found the Omicron coronavirus strain in all but one of 270 samples taken from Covid-19 patients in the country.
The samples had been taken over a period of time ranging from February 4 to March 1 and came from 18 out of Bulgaria’s 28 districts.
The Omicron strain accounted for 99.6 per cent of the latest group of samples sequenced by NCIPD, compared to 96.9 per cent in the previous batch announced by NCIPD earlier this week.
Among the patients with the Omicron strain, 211 were undergoing treatment at home, 31 were in hospital, 17 had recovered and 10 had died, as of March 1-7, the NCIPD statement said.
The one patient with the Delta variant, who was identified as having the AY.46.6 subvariant, was in hospital, as of March 1-7.
NCIPD said that among the Omicron cases, the BA.1.1 subvariant was found in 109 cases, BA.2 in 85 samples and BA.1 in 75 cases.
The largest number of samples, including both the Omicron and Delta strains, came from the district of Plovdiv (83), followed by the city of Sofia (54) and the districts of Stara Zagora (34), Varna (25) and Pleven (24).
(Photo: Military Medical Academy)
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