Omicron: 9 cases found in Rajasthan, 7 in Maharashtra; India’s tally jumps to 21
Samples of 34 people (of the family that came from South Africa and the people they came in contact with) were sent for genome sequencing and nine were found to be positive for Omicron, said the health department.
New Delhi: A total of nine cases of COVID19 Omicron variant have been reported in Rajasthan’s Jaipur, said the state health department.
Samples of 34 people (of the family that came from South Africa and the people they came in contact with) were sent for genome sequencing and nine were found to be positive for Omicron, said the health department. The remaining 25 people tested negative.
Medical Secretary Vaibhav Galriya said, “The department had already got the family from South Africa admitted to Rajasthan University of Health Sciences, Jaipur (RUHS). Five other people who came in contact with him have also been found infected. They are being admitted to RUHS.”
He said, “A family of Ajitgarh in Sikar district had also come in contact with the family. The department also traced all those eight people in Sikar. All of them have been found corona negative. All the people who came in contact are being sampled after doing contact tracing on a large scale.”
Galriya said the department has been fully active since the arrival of the family from South Africa in Jaipur and their monitoring was being done continuously. “Intensive contact tracing is being done by the department and treatment will be started after identifying all the people who came in contact.”
The Medical Secretary has appealed to the general public to strictly follow the Corona-compliant behaviour. Everyone should wear masks while leaving the house, follow social distancing, wash their hands with soap and not forget to take the dose of corona vaccine. Only by behaving with restraint, can we avoid the epidemic.”
Maharashtra
Seven more people tested positive for the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Maharashtra, taking the total number of cases of the new coronavirus variant in the state to eight, informed the public health department on Sunday.
The public health department, said, “Seven more people test positive for Omicron variant of COVID19 in Maharashtra. Total 8 cases of Omicron variant reported in Maharashtra till now.”
The health department added, “A 44-year-old woman who returned from Nigeria on November 24 and five of her relatives have tested positive for omicron variant.
These cases are reported from Pimpri Chinchwad, Pune.”
One person aged 47-year from Pune city has also tested positive for the Omicron variant of COVID-19. There are eight active cases in the state including one from Kalyan Dombiwali, 6 from Pimpri Chinchwad and 1 from Pune city.
The new variant of COVID-19 was first reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO) from South Africa on November 25. As per the WHO, the first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on November 9 this year.
On November 26, the WHO named the new COVID-19 variant B.1.1.529, which has been detected in South Africa, as ‘Omicron’. The WHO has classified Omicron as a ‘variant of concern’.Dozens of countries have imposed travel restrictions on the southern African nations since the mutation was discovered.
The new Omicron coronavirus variant has been confirmed in 23 countries and their number is expected to rise, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had said.