The Karnataka government confirmed recently that five contacts of an Omicron patient have tested positive for Covid, just hours after the Union health ministry announced that the first cases of the novel Covid type have been detected in the state. The patients have been quarantined, and their samples have been sent for genome testing, according to officials, the new Covid-19 variant Omicron is concerned about a highly infectious strain that has sparked worldwide worry.
One of the two initial patients is a 46-year-old fully vaccinated doctor from Bengaluru, who developed symptoms of fever and body ache on November 21.
He tested positive the following day and was admitted to the hospital; his sample was sent for genome sequencing on the same day. But three days later he was discharged.
A 46-year-old fully vaccinated doctor from Bengaluru, who got symptoms of fever and body soreness on November 21, is one of the two initial patients. He was sent to the hospital the next day after testing positive, and his sample was sent for genome sequencing the same day. However, he was released three days later. According to the Karnataka government, he had 13 direct contacts and more than 250 secondary contacts after comprehensive contact tracing.
A 66-year-old South African national who arrived in India with a negative Covid report is the other verified Omicron case.
The individual, who had taken both vaccine doses, tested positive and was asymptomatic when he arrived, so he was advised to self-isolate. He traveled to Dubai a week later after receiving negative Covid testing from a private lab. Samples have been obtained from his 24 primary and 240 secondary contacts.
