No BF.7, XBB.1.5 variants of Covid found among Bengaluru airport arrivals

No samples with BF.7 or XBB.1.5 - the variants said to be driving up Covid cases in China and US, respectively - have been found so far in the genomic sequencing results for samples from international arrivals at the Kempegowda International Airport here.

On Tuesday, the health department received the sequencing results of 23 passengers who were found to be Covid-positive in November and December.

Health commissioner D Randeep confirmed that only familiar sub-lineages of Omicron have been detected.

The results of 11 other cases identified in December are still awaited.

The results so far are of 12 samples detected in December and another 11 from November.

Of the samples from December, eight could not be sequenced as the viral load was too low (Ct value above 30). Similarly, five samples from November couldn't be sequenced.

Of the 10 samples that could be sequenced overall, seven were of XBB.1, one BA.5.2, one BQ.1.1 and one of BQ.1.8.1. "None of these is of concern," Randeep said.