IMPHAL: The first Omicron case in the northeast was detected on Monday when a 48-year-old man from Manipur's Imphal West district, who had returned from Tanzania recently, tested positive for the new variant of Covid-19.
The man is already in isolation at the state-run Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal East district, health officials said. He is asymptomatic and has no medical complaints.
"The Omicron variant of SARSCOVID2 has been detected in an international passenger coming from Tanzania to the state," said a statement issued by the director of Manipur health services K Rajo Singh.
After testing positive for Covid-19 after his arrival in India last week, his sample was sent for whole genome sequencing to the recently opened laboratory of the Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (ISBD) at Takyelpat in Imphal.
Rajo said three persons who came in contact with the man were also found positive and their samples have been sent for whole genome sequencing at the ISBD. The three are kept under special isolation, he added.
