Sofia, December 22 (BTA) - There is almost a 99 per cent certainty that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is now in Bulgaria, Nedyalko Kaluchev, an owner of private laboratories, told BTA here on Wednesday. He said that the results of one test were ready on Friday, while another five came out on Tuesday.

Kaluchev said that his lab's testing methods are not confirmatory, but rather screening and sequencing of the samples is yet to be conducted by the National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases (NCIPD), which will confirm if the samples are positive for the Omicron variant by establishing the presence of specific mutations of the SARS-CoV-2 S protein.

The samples were taken from young people in Sofia, one of whom has returned from the UK days ago, Kaluchev explained.

NCIPD Director Prof. Iva Hristova told BTA that no cases of the Omicron variant have been confirmed yet, but a PCR test sample is suspected. She said that the Center has only received one sample from Kunchev's lab and is expecting additional ones. "We expect that it might be Omicron," she said, adding that around ten days are needed before this can be confirmed with certainty. MY