VADODARA: The city registered the first Covid-19 case with the Omicron variant having no travel or contact history. It was amongst two Omicron cases confirmed in the city on Thursday.
Nine Omicron infected persons were meanwhile discharged on Thursday. These persons had tested negative twice in 24 hours. They have been advised of strict home isolation for seven days.
The case without travel or contact history is from the Sama area of Vadodara. The 53-year-old man was having complaint of cough and tested positive on December 16. He was isolated at home and a repeat test on December 26 was found negative. The genome sequencing reports that arrived on Thursday revealed that he was infected by the Omicron variant.
With no travel or contact history, officials suspect that the Omicron variant may have infected many others. “This was expected sooner or later,” said an official.
The second case is that of a 65-year-old man with a travel history to Nairobi, in Kenya. He had returned on December 11 and was found positive on December 17 in follow-up testing by health officials. He was hospitalised and his three close contacts were traced. All the contacts tested negative. Genome sequencing of the elderly man results that arrived on Thursday was positive for the Omicron variant. The patient remains in isolation. The samples of the patient as well as the close contacts were collected again on Thursday.
In all, 20 cases of the Omicron variant have been reported in Vadodara city and district so far. These include 19 in the city and one in the district. The case in the district is that of a man from Bhayli who had international travel history.
Another spike in cases
Vadodara city and district reported 38 new Covid-19 cases from 5,211 tests on Thursday. The cases are equal to the number of cases reported on June 16 this year when the second wave was ebbing rapidly.
The west zone of the city accounted for the highest number of new cases as 16 tested positive in the area. This was followed by the east zone where 10 persons tested positive even as the north and south zones accounted for four and five cases. Three new cases were reported from the areas of the district outside the city limits.
The new cases on Thursday pushed the total number of positive cases to 72,693. With eight persons being discharged on Thursday, the total number of discharged persons went up to 71,910. As many as 623 persons have died as per official records.
The number of active cases has risen significantly to 160 now out of which two are in serious condition on BIPAP machines or ventilators and six need oxygen support.
MSU hostel de facto isolation facility
A hostel block in the M S University’s hostel campus became an isolation facility in a way as the warden there tested positive for Covid-19.
The warden’s samples were collected two days back as he was not feeling well and the report turned out positive. He had come in close contact with some students as well as staffers at the hostel.
Sources said that six persons working at the hostel and 24 students were tested and none were found positive. The students will be staying in isolation at the hostel itself. Arrangements for their meals and other needs have been made at the hostel itself.
Two resident doctors infected
Two female resident doctors staying together have tested positive for Covid-19. They used to work at the GMERS Gotri Hospital. One of the doctors had tested positive initially and the other was tested as she was a close contact as they shared the same room. The other resident was also found positive.
