Covid-19 in Bulgaria: Omicron strain found in all 94 samples – NCIPD
Bulgaria’s National Centre for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases (NCIPD) has announced the results of sequencing the latest group of samples taken from Covid-19 patients in the country and said that it found the Omicron coronavirus strain in all 94 samples.
NCIPD said that the samples, taken over a period of time ranging from April 28 to May 25 in 13 out of Bulgaria’s 28 districts, showed that the XBB.1.5 lineage and related subvariants, which NCIPD collectively referred to as XBB.x, remained the dominant one in Bulgaria.
XBB.1.5 is a sub-lineage of XBB, which evolved from two earlier lineages of Omicron, with an additional spike change, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
ECDC has currently designated XBB and XBB.1.5-like sublineages as variants of interest and XBB.1.16 as a variant under monitoring.
NCIPD’s latest sequencing dataset showed the XBB.x lineage was present in 51 cases or 54.3 per cent of the samples, compared to 53.3 per cent of the samples in the previous batch sequenced by NCIPD, the results of which were announced on June 2.
The remaining samples were 14 cases of the EG.x lineage, 13 cases of the FL.x lineage, six cases each of the EU.x lineage and XBW subvariant, two cases of the BN.x lineage, as well as one case apiece of the FH.1 and FY.1.2 subvariants.
As of May 30, seven patients in the NCIPD sample group had died, 11 were in hospital and nine were undergoing home treatment, with 67 recovered, NCIPD said.
(Photo: Military Medical Academy)
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