Omicron: Gujarat man returning from Zimbabwe tests positive, Indias 3rd case

An elderly person, who recently returned from
Zimbabwe to Jamnagar in Gujarat, has tested positive for the omicron variant of
coronavirus, the state health department has confirmed. This is the third
Omicron case in India.

The sample of the Jamnagar resident, a
72-year-old man, was sent for genome sequencing after he tested positive for
COVID-19 on Thursday, news agency PTI reported quoting the state health
department, adding Gujarat health commissioner Jai Prakash Shivhare has
confirmed that the man was found infected with Omicron.

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“The man is a native of Jamnagar and has been living in Zimbabwe for the last many years. He arrived here on November 28 to meet his father-in-law. After he got a fever, his doctor advised him to get an RT-PCR test done. As mandated, the private laboratory informed us today that his report has come out positive for COVID-19,” said Jamnagar municipal commissioner Vijaykumar Kharadi. 

“He has been shifted to the isolation ward at the Guru Gobind Singh Government Hospital. We have started contact tracing as per protocols and his samples were sent to Ahmedabad for genome sequencing to know if he is infected with the new variant,” Kharadi added.

India has stepped up testing and
surveillance of all incoming international passengers, especially from at-risk
nations since the omicron variant was first detected in South Africa.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has
said it could take weeks to understand whether omicron is more transmissible
and whether it causes more severe infections – as well as how effective current
treatments and vaccines are against it. WHO termed omicron a “variant of
concern”. The new variant was first detected in the South African city of Pretoria.

This is the third confirmed case of the
omicron variant in India. Earlier, two cases of omicron were detected in
Karnataka.

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The first patient, a 66-year-old, came to
the state from South Africa on November 20 and left India seven days later with
a negative test report. The Karnataka state government has ordered the
Bengaluru civic body to launch an investigation into how the South African
national acquired a negative report despite being omicron positive.

The second person who tested positive for
the omicron variant is a doctor by profession. He is no travel history, said
government sources.