KALYAN: Even as samples of the Covid-positive marine navy engineer, who recently returned from South Africa, was submitted for genome sequencing to check for the Omicron variant, eight of his family members and close relatives tested negative for the viral infection, said officials from the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) on Monday.
The Dombivli engineer, who returned home from Cape Town via Dubai and Delhi on November 24, was placed in institutional quarantine at the Art Gallery in Kalyan on Sunday. He is asymptomatic and stable, said officials.
KDMC health officer Dr Pratibha Panpatil said, “The patient’s sample will be checked for the new Omicron variant at BMC-run Kasturba Hospital and the report will take at least one week.”
Another health official said though the patient’s report will take time, they are making all possible efforts to trace all those who came in contact with him in the last four days. The health team is also looking for the cab driver who had ferried the patient from Mumbai airport to his residence in Dombivli. The eight relatives include his parents, brother and sister-in-law.
KDMC commissioner Vijay Suryawanshi has appealed to citizens to not panic over the Omicron variant as all precautionary measures are being taken in the municipal limits. He said people need to take three safety precautions: follow social distancing, wear masks and frequently wash their hands to reduce the risk of getting Covid. Suryawanshi also urged those who hadn't got vaccinated to take the shots as a preventive measure.
Kalyan-Dombivli city, which is second-worst affected in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region after Mumbai, has so far recorded nearly 1.5 lakh cases and 2,835 deaths. At present, the daily patient count is between 10 and 20; it had once reached over 2,000.
