VIJAYAWADA: Two more cases of Omicron were reported in Andhra Pradesh, taking the number of this variant of Covid-19 in the state to four.
According to Public Health director Dr. Hymavathi, a 41-years old woman, who arrived from Kuwait to Gannavaram airport in Vijayawada on December 19 tested positive for Covid-19, when the RT-PCR test was conducted. Her samples were sent to CCMB, Hyderabad for genome sequencing, and on December 23 late night, results came, declaring her positive for Omicron.
Health department officials said, the woman, after testing positive for Covid-19 had immediately left her native village in East Godavari district in a car and went into home isolation. The samples of the car driver and her three primary contacts tested negative.
Meanwhile, samples of a 33-year old from Visakhapatnam, who visited UAE and returned on December 15, sent for genome sequencing also tested positive for Omicron. According to Dr. Hymavathi, the 33-year-old on his return to Visakhaptanm was admitted to a private hospital with mild fever and RT-PCR test results came positive. His samples were sent for genome sequencing to CCMB in Hyderabad and the results that came on Thursday late night declared him positive for Omicron.
In fact, that person, who was undergoing treatment was discharged from the hospital on December 22 as he recovered and his health condition was stable. Now he is in quarantine and under close observation of the health department.
So far, a total of 53 international travelers and their 9 contacts tested positive for Covid-19 in the RT-PCR tests conducted, and all the samples were sent for genome sequencing. As of Friday evening, a total of 33,161 international travelers arrived in the state from December 1. Health officials ask the public not to believe any rumors and urge them to adhere to Covid Appropriate Behaviour like wearing masks, maintaining social distance, and washing hands regularly.