Vijayawada: The tally of the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus went up to 17, with the detection of a new case, that of a woman hailing from Prakasam district in Andhra Pradesh who had returned from the UAE.
State health authorities said that the woman passenger, who was 52 years old, had landed at the Bengaluru International Airport on December 21 and went home to Prakasam district.
She tested Covid-19 positive in the RT-PCR test held on December 24. Her samples were sent to the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad for genome sequencing and the result showed that she was positive for Omicron.
The department said she was healthy and had been placed in quarantine and was under the observation of health personnel. Officials said that 14 persons who had come in contact with her had been tested for Covid-19 and had been found to be negative.
The state health authorities advised the general public to follow Covid appropriate behaviour scrupulously by wearing a mask, maintaining social distance, washing hands regularly, and to avoid group meetings, functions and gatherings to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus.
They have also advised the people who are yet to take second dose of Covid-19 jab to take it immediately as per their schedule.
