National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Sofia, Bulgaria
Communication on the spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants in the country 04 November 2022

The NCIPD has successfully analyzed 166 clinical samples with SARS-CoV-2 by next-generation whole genome sequencing. The samples were collected from patients with COVID-19 between 12.09-21.10.2022 and were sent from 18 different medical institutions in 18 districts of the country.

The Omicron variant was detected in all 166 clinical samples and the proportion was as follows: BA.5.x (79.5%), BE.x/BF.x, which are a sub-variant of BA.5 (19.9%) and BQ.1 (0.6%).

Pangolin COVID-19 Lineage Assigner v4.1.3. program was used to define SARS-CoV-2 variants. An epidemiological analysis is being carried out.