S African traveller found +ve; Bengaluru doc with no travel history positive
Covid-19 Omicron variant has reached India with two cases detected in Karnataka, while samples of six people who flew into Delhi from “at-risk” countries and tested positive have been sent to the National Centre for Disease Control for genome sequencing to ascertain if they have the new variant.
Of the two persons who tested positive for Omicron in Karnataka, one has already left for his hometown in South Africa. The 66-year-old man, who had arrived in India on November 20 and tested positive for Covid-19, reportedly took a flight to Dubai seven days later. He had been vaccinated with both doses of the coronavirus vaccine.
The other infected person is a 46-year-old fully vaccinated doctor from Bengaluru, who has no travel history but developed fever and body ache on November 21.
Five contacts of the doctor have turned out to be Covid positive, Karnataka announced on Thursday.
On Thursday, the Union Health Ministry said that contact tracing is being done and there is no need to panic.
Joint Secretary of the Union Home Ministry Lav Agarwal told reporters here at a press conference that both cases have been identified in Karnataka. “No severe symptoms of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 reported so far,” Agarwal said.
“All Omicron-related cases are found to have mild symptoms so far. In all such cases in the country and across the world so far, no severe symptom has been noted. WHO has said that its emerging evidence is being studied,” he added.
This is in line with data emerging from other countries that while Omicron is found to be more transmissible, the patients have mild symptoms, he pointed out.
Meanwhile, six people who flew into Delhi from “at-risk” countries have been admitted to LNJP after four of them tested positive for Covid-19 and two “showed symptoms”.