No travel history, but how did he get it? Search on for Bengaluru anesthetist's Omicron infection source
BENGALURU: The Karnataka health department is baffled about the source of infection of the Bengaluru anesthetist who tested positive for the Covid-19 variant, Omicron. According to sources, the department on Saturday retested 163 people in the hospital where the doctor works.
Sources told TNIE that of the five primary and secondary contacts of the anesthetist, one is his wife, two are his colleagues and two others are from the same block where the doctor works, but have not really interacted with the doctor. The others, according to health officials, developed mild symptoms on November 23.
“We again tested the 163 people, including some of the patients the doctor had interacted with before the conference. However, all of them tested negative for Covid-19,” an official said, on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, the genome tests of these contacts are still awaited. A senior doctor from the hospital where the anesthetist works, said it is now 13 days after the doctor tested positive, and he is doing fine in terms of illness and symptoms.
He and his other contacts are in the hospital only for observation.
BBMP health officials have started tracking the attendees of the two-day Cardiology Conference that was held in hybrid mode.
“There were 75 doctors and five technicians at the conference. The others attended online. We have started tracing all the participants and will test them too,” said a senior official.
Doctors say it is highly unlikely that the doctor’s primary source of infection is someone at the conference.
“It is rare that a person shows symptoms in just one day after exposure. He may have caught it elsewhere as the variant may have been in the community,” an official said.
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