The first two cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in India were reported in Karnataka on Thursday.
Patient no 1 was identified as a 66-year-old male who travelled from South Africa to Bengaluru with a negative COVID report. He was screened and tested at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru on November 20. He checked into a hotel the same day and tested positive. The patient, who had received both doses of the vaccine, was asymptomatic and was advised to self-isolate.
Two days later, his samples were collected and sent for genomic sequencing through Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike. On November 23, the patient underwent a self-investigation at a private lab and his report was negative.
Dr K. Sudhakar, health minister of Karnataka, said the patient, a South African national, had left the country. He checked out on November 27 around midnight, took a cab to the airport and travelled to Dubai. This patient was found positive for Omicron on Thursday. The primary contacts of the patient have been traced. None of them have tested positive.
Patient no 2 is a 46-year-old male. He underwent COVID testing at a hospital in Bengaluru on November 22 after he developed fever and body pain. He was identified as being an anaesthetist at a government hospital. His samples were sent for genomic sequencing as the cycle threshold value was found to be low. The patient was under home isolation for the next two days. He was hospitalised on November 25 and was discharged on November 27.
This patient had attended an international conference at a five-star hotel on November 20. There were no delegates from overseas at the event.
The patient had 13 primary contacts and 205 secondary contacts. Three primary contacts and two secondary contacts tested positive between November 22 and 25.
Two experts THE WEEK spoke with noted Omicron cases must have been present in Bengaluru even before the two cases were reported.
