NOIDA: Gautam Budh Nagar has recorded its first case of Omicron with a 35-year-old man testing positive for the new variant of Covid recently.
On Tuesday, the district also registered 140 new infections, while neighbouring Ghaziabad added 182 cases.
According to GB Nagar health officials, the patient, a resident of Sector 137, had developed a fever after he had attended a programme organised by his office, a private firm in Gurgaon, on December 16. A Covid test, conducted by a private lab, had found him positive for the infection on December 21 and he had since been in home isolation, officials said.
While the patient tested negative on December 28, a genome sequencing report confirmed that he had been infected with the new variant two days later, health officials said.
On Tuesday, chief medical officer Dr Sunil Kumar Sharma confirmed that the report had been conveyed to the health department on December 30. The officer added that the patient had now fully recovered and his wife, who was his primary contact, had also tested negative for the infection.
“The patient’s home in a high-rise apartment was earmarked as a micro-containment zone soon after he had tested positive. Health officials have also traced and tested his contacts as per protocol,” Sharma told TOI. Officials said the patient did not have a travel history and was fully vaccinated.
On December 17, Ghaziabad had reported its first Omicron cases when an elderly couple — a 69-year-old man and his 66-year-old wife, residents of Nehru Nagar, was found to be infected with the highly contagious variant. At least 26 cases of Omicron have been reported across the state so far.
Meanwhile, with 140 fresh Covid cases GB Nagar’s January tally breached the 400-mark to stand at 406, which is the highest since July last year when a total of 156 cases were recorded. Ghaziabad, too, has reported 405 cases in January so far, the highest since June (324 cases) last year. Currently, there are 597 active cases in GB Nagar and 560 in Ghaziabad.
GB Nagar district magistrate Suhas LY said, “The district administration is following the state’s order of testing and tracking Covid patients and admitting serious patients to hospitals. However, the hospitalization in the present scenario is nil. The night curfew is already in place and people are being asked to strictly Covid-appropriate behaviour.”
