Chennai: At least one person in Tamil Nadu was infected with the Omicron variant of SARS-COV2, Minister of Health MA Subramanian said on Wednesday.
Sequencing the genome of the sample taken from a 47-year-old man traveling to Chennai from Nigeria through Doha on December 10 showed that he carried a variant.
This test was carried out by the ICMR National Virology Institute in Pune.
At least seven contacts, including six relatives, has been tested positive for Covid-19 so far.
One co-passenger who was flying, a resident of Valasaravakkam in Chennai, was tested positive on Wednesday.
“Scientists say they see s-genes falling in all these patients during the RT-PCR test.
This is a strong indicator that they can also carry the same variant,” Subramanian told reporters.
All eight patients show mild symptoms, said the doctor at the King Preventive Institute of Medical Treatment.
All patients, except for boys aged 16 years, have taken two doses of vaccines.
Health workers now track close contact and co-passenger relatives that test positively.
International studies now show that Omicron infects and multiplies almost 70 times faster than the Delta variant and wild type SARS-COV-2 in human bronches.
“We strongly recommend two doses of vaccines.
Nearly 85 Lakh people will be a second dose.
There is nothing safe until everyone gets a vaccine,” said Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan.
For the past 10 days, 42 people from other countries have been tested positively Covid-19.
Everything isolated in the hospital.
Of these, three people have been sent back after they are tested negatively and others show mild symptoms.