Amid apprehensions about a possible third wave of COVID-19, Dharwad district has recorded two new cases of the new Omicron variant with a 53-year-old woman and 14-year-old girl testing positive.
Speaking to presspersons after inspecting a drive to inoculate students in the 15-18 age group at JSS PU College in Dharwad on Monday, Deputy Commissioner Nitesh Patil said that both the patients have already been given the requisite treatment and they are under observation in home isolation.
Both the patients are residents of Hubballi and 395 people who came in contact with them have been tested for the infection. “However, all have tested negative for the pandemic. But now that the two have tested positive for Omicron, steps have been taken to get all their primary and secondary contacts tested. Till both the woman and the girl tested negative for the infection, they will be under home isolation and under observation by the health staff,” he said.
Mentioning that COVID-19 cases are on the rise in the State and in Dharwad district too, he said that positive cases are increasing gradually. Though there is no need to panic, people should be extra cautious to prevent themselves from getting infected. “All should wear masks, use hand sanitisers and maintain physical distancing,” he said.
Mr. Patil said that as on date there are 62 active cases of COVID-19 in the district. Of these, only nine are in hospital and 53 in home isolation. He appealed to people to strictly follow COVID-19 protocol for the next two months and join hands with the district administration, which has taken all necessary steps, in checking proliferation of cases, he said.
Earlier, after visiting the inoculation centre at the college, Mr. Patil told students to get both the doses of the vaccine as given to their parents, already. In all, 95,774 children will be vaccinated in the district, he said.
District Health Officer Yashwanth Madinkar, District Surveillance Officer Sujata Hasavimath and others were present.
