Omicron sub-variant BA.2 is dominant in Vietnam. (Illustrative image by Zee News Network)

In recent COVID-19 virus gene sequencing reports, Vietnamese epidemiologists found up to 97 - 98% of the patients were infected with sub-variant BA.2, and the rest contracted strains Delta and BA.1.

In Hanoi, epidemiologists randomly conducted genome sequencing and found 87% of the cases were infected with the Omicron variant, mostly the ‘stealth’ variant BA.2. Meanwhile, genome sequencing results in Ho Chi Minh City showed the Omicron variant accounted for 76% of the testing samples.

Statistics show that the daily number of COVID-19 cases had increased in Vietnam from the end of February to mid-March, hitting more than 150,000 on some days. The Ministry of Health attributed the surge to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant that gradually replaced the Delta variant.

The World Health Organisation has announced several sublineages of the Omicron variants, namely BA.1, BA.2, BA.3, BA.4, BA.5 and XE. However, only sub-variants BA.1 and BA.2 have been found in Vietnam.

The COVID-19 outbreak is on a downward trajectory in Vietnam. On April 12 alone, nearly 23,000 new infections were recorded, about one eighth of the figure confirmed nearly a month ago.

Source: VOV