HANAMKONDA: A tense atmosphere prevails in Prashanth Nagar area of Subedari in Hanamkonda after news spread on Friday that a UK-returned woman had tested positive for the Omicron variant of Covid-19. The woman, her husband and their one-and-a-half-year-old daughter reached Hanamkonda on December 2 and her samples had been collected and sent to the lab for genome sequencing after RT PCR tests confirmed that she was Covid-19 positive.
District Health Medical Officer K Lalitha Devi said that the reports confirmed that the patient was Omicron positive and soon, the word spread. On Friday, Prashanth Nagar appeared deserted, with most of its residents afraid to step out of their homes. Residents are afraid that the woman may have spread the infection to her immediate family members who reached the airport to receive her.
DMHO Lalitha Devi said that on December 2, the woman had tested positive for Covid-19 and after a fortnight, had tested negative. However, the samples sent to the lab in NIMS Hospital, confirmed that she had been infected with Omicron while her husband tested negative. Upon receiving the test results, the medical and health staff rushed to Prashanth Nagar area and shifted the woman to TMIS in Hyderabad.
Samples of all the 26 persons who had come in contact with her over the fortnight were collected and sent to lab for test. “Based on the reports, a decision (will be taken) on the implementation of containment zone,” said the DMHO. She said that the woman who tested positive is staying with her family members in an apartment in Prashanth Nagar. “Samples were taken of the residents of the entire apartment building who came in contact with her, as well as her family members and sent for test,” Lalitha Devi said.
Health officials are conducting a household survey in the area. Meanwhile, the Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC) authorities have been sanitising the colony by spraying sodium hypochlorite.