Omicron in community transmission in India, threat level unchanged: INSACOG

So far, 72 per cent of all samples sequenced through INSACOG have been found to be of a Covid-19 variant

Omicron is in community transmission in India and has become the dominant variant in multiple metros where new cases have been rising exponentially, the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) has said.

In its latest weekly newsletter dated January 10, the genomic consortium said that while most Omicron cases have so far been asymptomatic or mild, hospitalisations and ICU cases have been increasing in the current wave. “The threat level remains unchanged,” the consortium has cautioned.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines community transmission as “outbreaks with the inability to relate confirmed cases through chains of transmission for a large number of cases,