Maha's 18th Omicron case detected in Nagpur, is of ex-Covid infectee

Nagpur, Dec 12 (IANS) A 40-year-old man from Maharashtra's Nagpur, who recently travelled to South Africa, has tested positive for Covid-19's new variant Omicron, taking the state's tally to 18, officials said on Sunday.

Nagpur Municipal Corporation Commissioner B. Radhkrishnan said that the patient - who arrived here on December 4 from South Africa - has shown mild symptoms but is stable and is undergoing treatment at the AIIMS here.

The state Health Department said late this evening that the patient had been earlier diagnosed with Covid-19 in April, but since his symptoms were mild, he was not hospitalised, and has not been vaccinated till date.

None of his family members have tested positive but as a precaution, they have been kept under isolation, while the NMC health authorities have already traced 30 of his contacts who have also tested negative.

The patient also reportedly suffered from heart problems and the genomic sequencing of his samples confirmed he was afflicted by Omicron, said the NMC chief.

With this, the eastern part of the state has got its first Omicron case, with the remaining being in Mumbai (5), Pune (11), Thane (1), with the state tally going up to 18 in the past 8 days.

All three cities, which have international airports, were among the worst-hit during the first and second Covid-19 waves, and the state health authorities are monitoring all incoming passengers from the "high risk" countries besides random checks on arrivals from other countries.

Of the 11,751 flyers landing at the 3 international airports from the "high-risk nations", 22 have tested positive in RT-PCR tests, besides another eight from other countries and all the 30 samples have been sent for genomic sequencing.

As several cities like Mumbai, Pune, and Nashik plan to reopen all schools next week, Health Minister Rajesh Tope has assured that there is no cause for panic but appealed to all citizens to adhere to Covid-19 protocols.