Comments
Presence of the Omicron variant has been confirmed from laboratory investigation in a 33- year-old passenger who arrived in Mumbai on November 24, 2021 from Capetown, South Africa through Dubai and Delhi. The passenger is the first patient with Omicron variant in Maharashtra.
The State Health Department said in a press statement, “ This young passenger is a resident of Kalyan-Dombivali Municipal Corporation and has not taken any Covid-19 vaccine. On November 24, the passenger got a mild fever. However, no other symptoms were observed. This mildly symptomatic patient is being treated at the Covid Care Centre in Kalyan-Dombivali”.
Twelve of the passenger’s high-risk contacts and 23 of the low-risk contacts have been traced and all have been tested negative for Covid-19.
Additionally, 25 of the co-passengers from the Delhi-Mumbai flight have also been tested negative. More contacts are currently being traced.
Zambia returnee carries Delta variant
Meanwhile, results of the genomic sequencing of a 60-year-old male passenger’s sample who had arrived from Zambia has been obtained from the National Institute of Virology and Omicron has not been detected in the sample. Instead, a sub-lineage of Delta variant has been detected in the sample.
Until today morning, 3,839 passengers arriving from at-risk countries for Omicron at Mumbai airport have been tested with RT-PCR and 344 out of 17,107 passengers arrived from other countries have been tested. Since December 1, 2021, eight passengers have been tested positive for Covid-19 and their samples have been sent for genomic sequencing.
Additionally, field surveillance of all international passengers who have arrived since November 1 is underway.
“ Genetic changes/mutation in viruses is a natural phenomenon and people should not panic. The Public Health Department appeals to the citizens that they should follow Covid appropriate behaviour, inform the Public Health Department authorities if they have had an international travel history in the last month and those who have not taken Covid-19 vaccine or have had only one dose should complete their vaccination at the earliest” the Department stated.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.