Bhubaneswar: In view of surge in Omicron cases across the country, Odisha Government decided to conduct genome sequencing of samples of people testing positive for COVID-19 in the State.

"The genome sequencing of samples of all COVID-19 cases will be carried out to ascertain spread of infections caused by Omicron variant," informed State Health Director Bijay Mohapatra today.

To contain spread of COVID-19 cases in the State, the Government is focusing on observance of COVID protocols, surveillance, crowd control and vaccination, he added.

According to a study by IIT Kanpur, the new variant of COVID-19 'Omicron' may trigger third wave in the country.

The researchers forecast that the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic may peak in India by February 3, 2022.

The report published in the pre-print repository MedRxiv predicted that the possible third wave, which may be triggered by new Omicron variant, may start around mid-December and peak in the beginning of February next year.