Tamil Nadu has no Omicron B7 variant: State health department

Tamil Nadu's health department has said that the state has maximum XBB variants of Omicron and till now no variant of BF 7, which is causing the new wave of Covid-19 in many countries, has been detected in the state.

While speaking to media persons, P. Sampath, Joint Director, Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, said, "The state has more XBB variants as more than 75 per cent of the samples tested in the state have these variants detected. However till now no BF. 7 variant of Omicron has been detected in the state."

The BA.2, BA.5 and even Delta variants are present in the state but not the BF.7 variant in the state of Tamil Nadu, he added.

According to the health department officials, after the Union government announced 2 per cent random RT-PCR testing of passengers arriving from international destinations, 160 passengers have been tested for Covid-19 in symptomatic passengers.

There are four international airports in Tamil Nadu- Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Tiruchi, but as there are no direct flights to these airports from China and other countries, which saw Covid-19 surge, there is not much testing at these airports except for the random RT-PCR testing for symptomatic passengers.