Telangana reports 14 cases of Omicron in one day

Hyderabad: Telangana on Wednesday reported a mini-explosion of sorts with respect to Omicron Covid-19 cases, with the health department saying 14 cases were confirmed during the day. This takes to 38 the known cases of Omicron variant infected people in the state so far.

Also, in what appears to be not a good sign as far as containing the spread of the Omicron variant is concerned, one case was confirmed from Rajanna-Siricilla district: A man who returned recently from Dubai and was living with his family in Gudem village of Mustabad mandal of the district.

The man has since been shifted to the Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences (TIMS) at Gachibowli, the government designated facility for treating Omicron cases. Health officials said that the man’s wife, and mother, had tested positive for Covid-19 and that their samples were being sent for genome sequencing.

Further evidence over a possible threat of an uncontrolled spread of the Omicron variant came from Hayathangar on the city fringes with health officials saying that a man in his 20s, who came from Sudan and stayed in Hayatnagar's Satyanarayana Colony, was found to be Omicron positive.

In this instance too, officials began collecting samples from the man's primary contacts and from the neighbourhood for testing for Covid, and then if positive cases are found, subsequently to identify if any of such emerging cases carry the Omicron variant.

The Rajanna-Sircilla case is the second Omicron case found outside of the GHMC area. The first was that of a woman who returned from the United Kingdom and lived in Hanamkonda.

The health department said of the 14 cases reported on Wednesday, 12 were found from among passengers arriving at the Rajiv Gandhi International airport (RGIA) in the city from countries listed by the Government of India as not at-risk nations. Two other cases were from at-risk countries, it said.

The department said four Covid-19 positive cases were found on Wednesday at the RGIA from among arrivals from at-risk countries and their samples were sent for genome sequencing. It said it was waiting for genome sequencing results on four samples.

So far, Omicron cases found in Telangana are dominated by those arriving — whether Indian or foreign nationals, the latter mostly from African nations, and some from countries in the Gulf. As many as 31 of the total 38 cases are from the so-called not at-risk countries, while six are from at-risk countries. One case is that of a local transmission, a cancer specialist doctor at a corporate hospital who caught the Omicron variant from a patient who arrived from Africa, he was treating.

Meanwhile, sources told Deccan Chronicle that 13 Omicron patients were admitted to the special ward at TIMS. At least 11 patients, earlier found infected with Omicron, have been discharged from the hospital, the sources said. They also said genome sequencing results were awaited on another 14 suspects, who tested positive for Covid-19. This group includes Covid positive contacts of those who had earlier tested positive for Omicron.