TN reports its first Omicron case

Chennai, Dec 16 (IANS) Tamil Nadu has reported its first Omicron case with a 47-year-old male passenger, who had arrived from Nigeria via Doha, testing positive for this Coronavirus variant.

He has been admitted to a hospital. The results of genome sequencing on the samples of six of his family members and a co-passenger are awaited, State Health Minister Ma. Subramanian said on late Wednesday.

The six family members of the passenger have also shown S-gene drop which could be a sign that they also carry the Omicron virus. All the eight passengers showed mild symptoms of infection. Barring a 16-year old boy, all have taken two doses of Covid-19 vaccine.

During the last ten days, 42 persons who came here from overseas have tested positive for Covid-19.