The new Covid variant Omicron that has sparked global concerns has reached India.
Two cases of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus have been detected in Karnataka, the Union government said on Thursday while asking people not to panic but follow Covid-appropriate behaviour and get vaccinated without delay.
Here is all that we know so far on the cases in India and the Omicron variant:
2 foreign returnees in Karnataka test +ve for new strain
Patient 1:
66-yr-old male, came from South Africa on Nov 20
Tested Covid positive on arrival, was asymptomatic
Tested -ve a week later and flew to Dubai
24 primary and 240 secondary contacts have tested negative
Also Watch: School attendance in India may drop by 14% due to Omicron: survey
Patient 2:
44-yr-old male, a health worker from Bengaluru
Developed symptoms on Nov 21, tested +ve a day later
Was admitted to hospital, discharged 3 days later
Samples were sent for genome sequencing, Omicron detected
13 primary and 2 secondary contacts test +ve for Covid
Unclear so far if the contacts have Omicron strain
In all 13 primary, 205 secondary contacts have been tested
Also Watch: Omicron variant: from vaccine to test efficacy, is the RT-PCR enough?
Omicron reaches India: Things you should know:
Govt stresses on awareness, says no need to panic
Intensive screening and testing of all arrivals in India
Close to 380 cases of Omicron variant in 29 countries so far
Europe, South Africa tagged as 'at-risk' countries
WHO has designated Omicron as a variant of concern
Believed to have 50+ mutation, 30 on spike protein
Significantly more infectious than the Delta variant
Scientists still to figure if current vaccines can protect
Also Watch: Omicron likely to cause 3 times more reinfections than Delta | study