India on Thursday reported its first two cases of Omicron variant from Karnataka. However, these two cases are not related to each other, as per state government authorities. The two men who were diagnosed with Omicron infection are aged 66 and 46 years and both of them are fully vaccinated.
The men have been identified as 66-year-old South African national and 46-year-old healthcare worker from Bengaluru who has no travel history. Both these men were found to be COVID-19 positive with mild symptoms. The announcement was made following confirmation from the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG).
INSACOG monitors the genomic variations of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Indian national who tested positive for the new variant developed fever and body ache on November 21 and underwent the RT-PCR test at a hospital on November 22. Here he tested positive for COVID-19.
The 66-year-old South African national landed in Bengaluru on November 20 and tested positive after his sample was collected at the airport on arrival. Later he was found asymptomatic and was advised to self-isolate at the hotel. The man had travelled with a negative report from South Africa via Dubai.
The South African national left for Dubai on November 27 after testing negative. BBMP said the man had 24 primary contacts and 240 secondary contacts, and all of them have tested negative. The Centre, meanwhile, said that all the Omicron-related cases were found to have mild symptoms so far.
Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh administration is searching for 30 of the 60 foreign returnees for conducting RT-PCR tests to rule out Omicron. Around 60 international passengers, including nine from Africa, who landed at various airports came to Visakhapatnam in the last 10 days.
Of them, 30 are staying in Visakhapatnam while the other 30 have left for various places in the state. Some of them are allegedly not responding to telephone calls and officials fear they are ‘missing’.
