The health ministry on Monday said that all Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2 are present in the country, but no rise in transmission of Covid-19 has been reported from the areas where these variants were detected.

According to the ministry, sequencing of about 324 Covid-19-positive samples revealed the presence of Omicron variants like BA.2 and its sub-lineages, including BA.2.75, XBB, BQ.1 and BQ.1.1. It, however, pointed out that so far no mortality or rise in transmission have been reported in the areas where these variants were detected.

In the period December 29 to January 7, 2023, the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) sentinel sites referred 324 Covid-19-positive samples for sequencing to 22 Indian Sars-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (Insacog) labs.

From December 24, the ministry had initiated random testing of international travellers arriving by flight. According to government data, 1,357,243 international passengers arrived in India through 7,786 flights at various airports, of which 29,113 randomly selected passengers were asked to undergo an RT-PCR test for the virus. Of these, 183 samples were found positive, which were subsequently sent for whole genome sequencing to 13 Insacog labs.

The ministry said that sequencing of 50 samples revealed Omicron and Omicron sub-lineages, including recombinant variants. XBB, BQ.1.1 and BF7.4.1 were the main variants detected in these samples.

The ministry said it is keeping a close watch on the Covid situation in the states through the IDSP network, particularly on the transmission and hospitalisation trends.