TIRUCHY: A 56-year-old man who travelled from Singapore to Tiruchy tested positive for Covid on Friday. Hailing from Thanjavur, the patient has been isolated at Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital (MGMGH).
All other 140 passengers tested negative for the Coronavirus. They have been asked to home quarantine and officials said there will be regular follow ups done.
Deputy Director of Health Services (DDHS) Tiruchy, Dr Subramani said that the passenger has been admitted at the MGMGH.
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Dr Subramani said that details of the passengers travelling on the same row as the patient, as well as passengers travelling in the front two rows and back two rows have been collected from the immigration authorities. He said that these passengers would be checked very closely.
"We will send the list to the concerned districts as well as the State for follow up activities. So far, the patient is asymptomatic and fine. We will send his sample for genome sequencing to the State Public Health Laboratory in Chennai," said Dr Subramani.
According to airport authorities, the flight arrived at 10:45 PM from Singapore to Tiruchy. Sources said that by the time testing and results were completed for the passengers, it was early morning on Friday.
The patient is said to have been shifted to MGMGH by 4:30 am on Friday. He is doing fine, according to GH sources. His sample to test for genome sequencing, and thereby check if it is the Omicron variant, will be sent to Chennai. It is only the health administration in Chennai that will confirm the results.
The passenger travelled from Singapore, which is one among the 11 countries categorised as high risk for the new Covid variant Omicron. Health Minister Ma Subramanian said that of the four international airports in Tamil Nadu, Tiruchy has the highest footfall from Singapore.
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