RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh Health Minister T S Singh Deo and three others were on Tuesday found to have had contracted the Omicron variant of coronavirus, taking the tally of such infections in the state to five.
All of them have already recovered, health officials said.
"Four persons, including a woman, all from the capital Raipur, tested positive for the Omicron variant," a health official told PTI without disclosing their identities.
After they had tested positive for COVID-19, their samples were sent for genome sequencing more than ten days ago and the reports came on Tuesday, he said.
Of them, a man and a woman had returned from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), while the other two had not traveled outside India recently, the official said.
On January 5, a man from Bilaspur district who had returned from the UAE had tested positive for the new variant of the virus.
On Tuesday evening, health minister Singh Deo disclosed that he was among those who had Omicron infection.
"People should not be afraid. I am among the five cases of Omicron. My report was received from a lab in Bhubaneswar on Monday. There is no reason to have fear but people should remain alert as it spreads rapidly," the minister said.
Earlier, Singh Deo had tweeted about contracting coronavirus infection on January 2.
In another tweet six days later, he informed that he had recovered.
The Chhattisgarh government on Tuesday issued an order facilitating officers and employees of the secretariat and directorate offices to work from home in light of the alarming rise in COVID-19 cases.
The state government had on Monday directed that these offices will function with one third of Class III and IV employees, while the entry of the general public will be prohibited.
In a circular to all additional chief secretaries, principal secretaries, secretaries and head of the departments (HoDs), the General Administration Department (GAD) has issued a fresh order stating that in-charge secretaries and HoDs of the secretariat and directorate offices can work from home in view of the spread of the infection, an official from the public relations department said.
"Employees who have not been deployed on duty as per rosters can also execute their official work from their residence. Apart from this, personnel facing COVID-19-related problems can also work in a similar manner," the official said.
However, officers and secretaries have been asked not to leave the headquarters and remain in contact with their superiors over phone.
If necessary, officers can be called to their respective workplaces, he added.
As on Monday, the caseload was 10,27,433, including 13,619 deaths and 9,94,592 recoveries, leaving the state with 19,222 active infections.