Bengaluru Omicron Patient A Doctor, 5 Contacts Test Positive For Covid

Five contacts of an Omicron patient – a doctor from Bengaluru -- have turned out to be Covid positive, Karnataka announced yesterday, shortly after the Union health ministry said the first patients of the new Covid variant have been found in the state. The patients have been isolated and their samples have been sent for genome testing, Karnataka said amid concern over the highly infectious strain that has set off global alarm.

One of the two initial patients is a 46-year-old fully vaccinated doctor from Bengaluru, who had no travel history and developed symptoms of fever and body ache on November 21.

He tested positive the following day and was admitted to hospital; his sample was sent for genome sequencing on the same day.  But three days later he was discharged.

After extensive contact tracing, the Karnataka government said he had 13 direct contacts and more than 250 secondary contacts.

The other confirmed Omicron patient is a 66-year-old South African national who came to India with a negative Covid report.

The man, who received both vaccine doses, tested positive on arrival and was asymptomatic, following which he was told to self-isolate. A week later, receiving a negative Covid report from a private lab, he left for Dubai.  

Samples from his 24 primary and 240 secondary contacts have returned negative test results.

Omicron, detected in South Africa, has been designated a 'variant of concern' by the World Health Organisation. It is believed to have 50+ mutations, including over 30 on the spike protein, which make it significantly more infectious than the Delta variant.

Announcing the advent of the virus in India, which some health experts said was inevitable, the Union health ministry said, "We need not panic about Omicron detection but awareness is absolutely essential. Follow Covid-appropriate behaviour and avoid gatherings".

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraja S Bommai called on Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in Delhi yesterday and discussed the situation. He said he also raised the possibility of giving booster dose of the vaccine to health workers. The health minister responded that the Centre is watching the current developments and a decision on administering booster shots will be taken after discussion with expert committees, he said.

"We are holding a meeting tomorrow with all details and will come out with new SoPs (standard operating procedure). We are also trying to get expert views and guidelines of the Centre," he later told told reporters.