NEW DELHI: Eleven Omicron sub-variants were found during testing of international travellers between December 24 and January 3, and all these variants are already circulating in India, official sources said on Thursday.
Of the 19,227 international travellers tested during the period, 124 were found Covid-19 positive. All of them were put in isolation.
Officials said that of the 124 positive samples, genome sequencing results of 40 were received of which XBB, including XBB.1, was found in 14 samples and BF 7.4.1 in one sample. XBB, a recombinant strain of BA.2.75 and BA.2.10.1, has a significant growth advantage. It is the most prevalent variant in India. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has urged people not to panic unnecessarily but remain alert and follow the directives issued by the government.
The Centre has made random Covid-19 tests mandatory for two per cent of the international passengers, irrespective of their port of departure, since December 24. From January 1, passengers arriving from hotspots countries like China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand are mandatorily required to provide Covid-negative reports.
The test has to be conducted not more than 72 hours prior to undertaking the journey to India and the negative report from the RT-PCR test has to be uploaded on the Air Suvidha portal before departure.
This will also apply to the passengers transiting through these six countries, irrespective of their originating nations, before arriving at any Indian airport.
India has already directed states and union territories to step up vigil, increase surveillance and focus on genome sequencing with the focus on identifying new variants that could lead to a surge in the country. The steps have been taken following a global surge, especially in neighbouring China, which is seeing an explosion in Covid-19 cases.
Meanwhile, India recorded 188 new coronavirus infections, while the active cases have declined to 2,554, according to Union health ministry data updated on Thursday. The total tally of Covid cases has been recorded at 4,46,79,319 and the death toll stands at 5,30,710, with three deaths reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated.
The daily positivity has been recorded at 0.10 per cent while the weekly positivity has been pegged at 0.12 per cent, the ministry said. The active cases comprise 0.01 per cent of the total infections, while the national recovery rate has increased to 98.80 per cent, according to the health ministry’s website.
New variant, new menace
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has urged citizens not to panic unnecessarily but remain alert after ‘discovery of new Covid variant’
19,227 international travellers tested from Dec 24 to Jan 3
124 were found Covid-19 positive
Of the 124 positive samples, genome sequencing results of 40 were received
XBB, including XBB.1, was found in 14 samples and BF 7.4.1 in one sample
XBB, a recombinant strain of BA.2.75 and BA.2.10.1, has a major growth advantage
It is the most prevalent variant in India
Condition on travel to India
The test has to be conducted not more than 72 hours prior to undertaking the journey to India and the negative report from the RT-PCR test has to be uploaded on the Air Suvidha portal before departure.