“So far, 17 COVID-19 patients and six of their contacts have been admitted to the Lok Nayak Hospital. The Omicron variant has been found in one of the 12 samples sent for genome sequencing so far, according to a preliminary report,” Health Minister Satyendar Jain said.
Over 50 per cent of India’s eligible adult population is now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Sunday as the cumulative vaccine doses administered in the country exceeded 127.61 crore.
New Delhi:
A 37-year-old man who arrived in Delhi from Tanzania has tested positive for Omicron, making it the first case of the new COVID-19 variant in the national capital and the fifth in the country.
The patient is currently admitted to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital and has mild symptoms, hospital officials said.
“So far, 17 COVID-19 patients and six of their contacts have been admitted to the Lok Nayak Hospital. The Omicron variant has been found in one of the 12 samples sent for genome sequencing so far, according to a preliminary report,” Health Minister Satyendar Jain said.
“The patient is an Indian and had returned from Tanzania a few days ago. He has mild symptoms,” an official told PTI.
“The patient’s travel history is being collated and his contacts are being traced,” he said.
Meanwhile, more of cases of Omicron infected persons are being detected in Maharashtra.
While a merchant navy engineer in Dombivli, near Mumbai, is confirmed to have been infected by the omicron variant of Covid-19, the reports of several others who have undergone tests are awaited, according to ,media.
Mumbai has as many as 17 people suspected of being infected by the South African variant. Of these, 13 are travellers and the other four, their contacts.
It added that an update by the BMC has a list of 3,760 travellers to Mumbai from high-risk countries and 2,794 have been traced and tested for Covid-19.
The country reported the first two cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 on Thursday in Karnataka — a 66-year-old South African flyer and a 46-year-old Bengaluru doctor with no travel history. Both men are fully vaccinated.
On Saturday, a 72-year-old NRI man from Gujarat and a 33-year-old man from Maharashtra tested positive for the new strain.
All Covid-positive international travellers are being admitted to the LNJP Hospital, where a dedicated ward has been set up for isolating and treating them.
According to the Centre, the countries designated as “at-risk” are European countries, including the UK, and South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel.
Under the new norms, RT-PCR tests are mandatory for passengers arriving from the “at-risk” countries and they will be allowed to leave the airport only after the results come.
Also, two per cent of the passengers arriving on flights from other countries will be subjected to the test randomly.
Meanwhile,over 50 per cent of India’s eligible adult population is now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Sunday as the cumulative vaccine doses administered in the country exceeded 127.61 crore.
According to Union Health Ministry officials, over 84.8 per cent of the adult population in India has been administered the first dose.
”Congratulations India.It is a moment of great pride as over 50% of the eligible population is now fully vaccinated. We will win the battle against COVID-19 together,” Mandaviya said in a tweet.
With the administration of 1,04,18,707 vaccine doses in a span of 24 hours, the total COVID-19 vaccine doses given in the country has exceeded 127.61 crore, according to the provisional report till 7 am.
This has been achieved through 1,32,44,514 sessions, the ministry said. The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with health care workers (HCWs) getting inoculated in the first phase. The vaccination of front line workers (FLWs) started from February 2.
Agencies