NEW DELHI, Dec 5: With seven more cases detected on Sunday, all in Maharashtra, India seems to have now firmly joined the list of the countries affected by the Omicron variant of Coronavirus disease. Delhi had reported the fifth case of the variant earlier in the day.
With the exception of a local doctor in Karnataka, all the other cases were of those who travelled to India from some African countries or of their close contacts. The seven cases in Maharashtra reported on Sunday included four foreign-returnees and three of their close contacts who reported positive with the new Covid variant, Omicron, taking the total number of such cases in the country to 12.
A 44-year-old woman who had come from Nigeria’s Lagos on November 24 to meet her brother in Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal area, her two daughters accompanying her, the brother and his two daughters — a total of 6 people — have tested positive for Omicron variant, as per the report obtained from the National Institute of Virology, Pune, this evening. Another case has been reported in Pune where a 47-year-old man who travelled from Finland has tested positive for the Omicron variant.
Maharashtra got its first Omicron variant case on Saturday after a Dombivili resident who returned from South Africa’s Cape Town via Dubai to the state tested positive. The total number of Omicron patients in the state is now eight, while India’s tally of the new variant that has rung alarm bells across the globe stands at 12.
Earlier, a 37-year-old man who arrived in Delhi from Tanzania tested positive for the Omicron variant. The Tanzania returnee, who tested positive for the Omicron variant, has mild symptoms and had taken both doses of the vaccine, doctors in the Delhi hospital where he was admitted, said.
The first two cases of Omicron in India were reported from Karnataka earlier this week. The other two cases were detected from Gujarat and Maharashtra. With seven new cases, the Omicron cases in Maharashtra have risen to 8.
The WHO has urged countries to prepare by accelerating vaccinations and put mitigation plans in place to maintain essential health services. “Omicron has an unprecedented number of spike mutations, some of which are concerning for their potential impact on the trajectory of the pandemic,” the WHO said in a statement.
International airports across India are intensively screening and testing all passengers from ‘at-risk’ countries. In line with central guidelines, all passengers from such countries have to take RT-PCR tests on arrival. The test result has to be negative in order to leave the airport.
The list of countries deemed “at-risk” for now includes the United Kingdom, all 44 countries in Europe, South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Israel. Researchers are still checking if Omicron is more lethal and if current vaccines offer protection.
(Manas Dasgupta)