BENGALURU: Karnataka on Thursday reported five more Omicron-positive cases, taking the total number of Covid-19 patients having tested positive with the new variant to eight. Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar tweeted about five more people testing positive for Omicron in the state.
Of the five new cases, the youngest is a 19-year old girl and the oldest is a 70-year-old woman. While four are Bengalureans, the fifth, a 52-year-old male, is a resident of Belagavi who landed in Bengaluru for a change-over flight after arriving from Nigeria.
Health Department officials said samples of the 19-year old were collected on December 13. She had a travel history from the United Kingdom and was double-vaccinated with Covishield, but tested Covid-19 positive on arrival. She was immediately rushed to hospital and her samples sent for genome sequencing. The results, released on Thursday, came positive for the Omicron variant.
The Health Department said a 52-year-old man from Belagavi had travelled on the same flight as the 19-year-old, from Nigeria. He too had completed his vaccination doses before being infected by the new variant. “He was screened at the airport, but did not wait for the test results and took a flight to Belagavi. Once his reports came, he was immediately isolated.
He has two primary contacts, who are also being tested for Covid-19 and Omicron. The details of his co-travellers are also being ascertained,” a senior health official said. A mother-and-son duo, with travel history from Delhi (no foreign travel) have been found to be Omicron-positive too.
Mother-son duo tests positive for new variant
The mother-and-son are the first two cases of domestic travellers testing positive for Omicron in the state, said a senior Health Department official. This increases concerns, requiring domestic travellers to also be tested. The 70-year-old mother, whose samples were collected on December 5 at a private laboratory in Mahadevapura, tested positive on December 6 with mild symptoms and was admitted to a private hospital.
It was decided to do genome sequencing of the samples and the results came positive for Omicron. Her 36-year-old son also tested Omicron-positive. The two have three primary contacts, two of whom have been found to be positive for Covid- 19. Their samples have also been sent for genome sequencing and the results are awaited. The duo had taken two doses of Covishield vaccine, a health official said.
The official release also lists a 33-year-old male, who arrived in Bengaluru through Delhi from South Africa on December 9. He had taken two doses of Covishield vaccine. He gave his samples for testing at a private lab in the city. He had tested negative at Delhi airport and at Bengaluru airport. But he showed mild symptoms on December 10, and voluntarily gave his samples the same day and was found to be Covid positive. “The lab shared the details of the patient with BBMP and since he had a south Africa travel history, his samples were sent for genome sequencing and was found positive for Omicron,” official said.
Stricter vigil on domestic travellers too?
Officials have expressed worries that if cases of domestic travellers are testing positive for Omicron, there is a need to enhance vigil at railway stations and bus stations too. Soon after the mother and son tested positive, BBMP officials got to action. A BBMP official said, “The two had attended a wedding in Rajasthan and had taken a flight from Delhi.
The father of the man, who is suffering from Parkinsons and dementia, also tested positive. All three have been admitted to Sakra Hospital for treatment. The maid is still under watch. The two secondary contacts are the wife and son of the man, but they stay in Yemlur and their second round of RT-PCR will be done at a later stage. We have also sealed the area where the family stayed in a gated community in Bellandur,” said the senior BBMP official.
Over 100 pc first dose coverage in 3 districts
Three districts—Bengaluru Urban, Gadag and Vijayapura —have achieved more than 100 per cent coverage of the Covid-19 vaccination. Five districts are on the verge of achieving 100 per cent first dose coverage and 11 districts have zero Covid-19 cases as of Thursday.