VISAKHAPATNAM: Andhra Pradesh reported its first case of the new Covid-19 variant Omicron on Sunday.
A 34-year-old man, who recently returned from Ireland, tested positive for the new variant.
According to the state officials, the patient arrived at Mumbai airport from Ireland on November 27 and tested negative for Covid-19 in a RT-PCR test.
Despite having no symptoms, he was subjected to a retest after the 14-day home quarantine in Vizianagaram as per the protocol, which confirmed the presence of Omicron variant in the passenger.
The genomic sequencing conducted on his sample at Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad was found positive for the new variant Omicron.
Director of Andhra Pradesh public health and family welfare department, Dr G Hymavathi said that so far a total of 15 foreign returnees tested positive for Covid-19 in RT-PCR testing.
Hymavathi added, “All these samples were sent to CCMB, Hyderabad for genomic sequencing. We have received reports of 10 cases, and one of them has been identified as Omicron. Public are advised not to worry and believe in any rumours. We request the public to continue to take all the Covid-19 precautions such as physical distancing, mask wearing and frequent hand washing.” .
