C'garh health minister, three others test positive for Omicron, have already recovered

Raipur, Jan 11 (PTI) Chhattisgarh Health Minister T S Singh Deo and three others were on Tuesday found to have had contracted the Omicron variant of coronavirus, taking the tally of such infections in the state to five.

All of them have already recovered, health officials said.

“Four persons, including a woman, all from the capital Raipur, tested positive for the Omicron variant," a health official told PTI without disclosing their identities.

After they had tested positive for COVID-19, their samples were sent for genome sequencing more than ten days ago and the reports came on Tuesday, he said.

Of them, a man and a woman had returned from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), while the other two had not traveled outside India recently, the official said.

On January 5, a man from Bilaspur district who had returned from the UAE had tested positive for the new variant of the virus.

On Tuesday evening, health minister Singh Deo disclosed that he was among those who had Omicron infection.

“People should not be afraid. I am among the five cases of Omicron. My report was received from a lab in Bhubaneswar on Monday. There is no reason to have fear but people should remain alert as it spreads rapidly," the minister said.

Earlier, Singh Deo had tweeted about contracting coronavirus infection on January 2. In another tweet six days later, he informed that he had recovered. PTI TKP KRK KRK