Omicron enters Maharashtra; man who travelled from South Africa via Dubai and Delhi tests positive
The 33-year-old man, who resides in the Kalyan Dombivali municipal area near Mumbai, became the fourth confirmed case in the country.
FollowOmicron made its way to Maharashtra on Saturday after a 33-year-old man who travelled to Mumbai from South Africa via Dubai and Delhi was tested positive for the new Coronavirus variant. The man, who resides in the Kalyan Dombivali municipal area near Mumbai, became the fourth confirmed case in the country. The person, who arrived in Mumbai on November 24, had mild fever when he underwent a test. The state health department's note says that the mildly symptomatic patient is currently undergoing treatment at the Covid Care Centre in Kalyan-Dombivali," a government note said.
Contact tracing is being done aggressively, health officials said. Earlier in the day, a person in Gujarat's Jamnagar had tested positive for the new variant. That individual had travelled home from Zimbabwe. Maharashtra has already revised its air travel guidelines. The guidelines now mandate all passengers to be fully vaccinated or mandatorily carry ab RT-PCR Test negative report within 72 hours before boarding. International passengers landing in the state from 'at-risk' countries have to take an RT-PCR test upon arrival and undergo a seven-day quarantine. A second RT-PCR test will be taken on the seventh day following which if a person tests positive, he or she would be shifted to Covid treatment facility. If the Covid test after seven days is negative, the person will have to be in home quarantine for seven more days.
Meanwhile, passengers from three 'ultra-risk' nations of South Africa, Botswana, and Zimbabwe will have to mandatorily undergo institutional quarantine. Researchers are still trying to understand if the Omicron variant, first detected in South Africa, is more transmissible than other variants. Nevertheless, the WHO has still tagged the B.1.1.529 as a variant of concern. The variant has exhibited many mutations, especially more than 30 on the viral spike protein, which is the key target of the immune response.Â
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