NEW DELHI: Four of the six passengers who travelled to India and reached Delhi on Wednesday tested COVID-19 positive, while the other two are suspected Covid cases. The passengers flew from the Netherlands and the UK in the early hours of Wednesday. The passengers have been admitted to the state government-run Lok Nayak Hospital, sources said on Wednesday.
According to reliable sources, samples collected from these patients have been sent for genome sequencing to ascertain if they have the new variant Omicron. Test results are expected to be out in 48 hours. The Delhi government on Monday announced that Lok Nayak Hospital will be the dedicated facility to admit patients arriving at international airports who test positive for the dreaded virus.
The Union health ministry on Wednesday in a statement said that on the first day of operation of the guidelines for international travellers, six passengers were reported to be Covid positive.
“Total of 11 international flights landed at various airports of the country except for Lucknow, from midnight to 4 pm today, from ‘at risk’ countries. These carried 3,476 passengers. All 3,476 passengers were administered RT-PCR Tests, wherein only six passengers were found COVID-19 positive. The samples of the COVID-19 positive passengers have been sent to INSACOG labs for Whole Genomic
Sequencing,” the ministry said in a statement.
A genome sequencing laboratory at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) tested 191 Covid samples between October and November and found all of them to be of the Delta variant, according to a senior official at the medical facility. The laboratory, which started functioning in July, has processed around 720 samples between August and November. Dr S K Sarin, the vice-chancellor of ILBS, said that of the samples received between October and November, 191 have been sequenced and all of them are found to be of Delta and its sub-variants.