Tamil Nadu and West Bengal report first Omicron cases; total tally in India rises to 73

The cases of Omicron are rapidly growing across the country as the newly detected ‘variant of concern’ has also been discovered in a patient in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday, December 15. As per the state health officials, a 47-year-old passenger returning from Nigeria via Doha has been detected positive for the Omicron variant.

The state health officials have isolated the six family members of the individual who had also tested positive, and are suspected to be infected with the B.1.1.529 variant. Their samples had also shown a ‘S Gene’ drop, yet the officials are awaiting the results of the genomic testing for confirmation. A co-passenger has also tested positive, and officials have sent the sample for genomic testing to determine the variant causing infection.

Tamil Nadu detects first Omicron cases, six others also suspected positive

Subramanian, Minister of Medical and Family Welfare informed, "In the initial level of testing of their sampling, there was S-gene drop raising the suspicion of being infected by Omicron. Now, we have received the results sent from the National Institute of Virology. The passenger has tested positive for Omicron.”

"With the result of the passenger confirmed, we suspect six of his family members, along with a 16-year-old child, also to be positive (for Omicron). We received the result confirming the Omicron variant of the passenger a few minutes back," he added. 

India’s Omicron count rises to 73, Maharashtra alone recorded 32

Besides, there has been a rapid jump in the spread of Omicron cases across the country, with Maharashtra alone having 32 cases. The state tally went up on Wednesday after four new Omicron cases were reported. Apart from this, four others were found positive in Kerala and one new case in Bengal, raising the total number of COVID cases in the country to 73. Bengal confirmed the first Omicron case in a seven-year-old child who returned from Abu Dhabi.

Maharashtra now has 32, Rajasthan-17, Gujarat-4, Delhi-6, Karnataka-3, Telangana-3, Andhra Pradesh-1, Tamil Nadu-1, Kerala-5, and Bengal-1.

The variant had already spread to 77 countries as per the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the first death from the variant had been confirmed in the UK, furthermore, the global health organisation has said that the newly detected variant ‘spreads more’ and can ‘evade vaccine efficacy.’ The health ministry has sounded the alert against the variant and has urged people to comply with the standard COVID-19 protocols.

Image: ANI