All types of Omicron variant found in country

All the sublineages of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 have been recorded in Greece, with the latest being XBB, Greece’s public health agency EODY, said on Tuesday. 

EODY said that the the National Network of Genomic Surveillance, the laboratory that monitors the different iterations of the virus in the country, identified the SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.529, otherwise known as the Omicron variant, in all 338 randomly selected or targeted samples of the virus collected from September 28 to October 25. 

The analysis identified 28 (8.3%) samples as BA.2, eight (2.4%) as BA.4 and 302 (89.3%) as BA.5. 

Of the BA.2 strains, 17 (60.7%) were identified as subvariant BA.2.75 (Centaurus) and eight (28.6%) as sublineage XBB, while of the BA.5 variant, 12 (4.0% ) were identified as sublineage BQ.1 and one (0.3%) as BQ.1.1. 

Earlier in the day, EODY announced 53,436 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 for the week between October 24 and October 30 (compared with 52,966 from October 17 to 23) and 164 virus-related deaths over the same period (versus 138 the week before). 

Additionally, at the end of the week there were 85 intubated patients being treated in intensive care units, compared with 82 the previous week.