Two persons tested positive for Omicron in the State, with Visakhapatnam and Esat Godavari district reporting their first cases of the virus.
Viskhapatnam district recorded its first case on Thursday. According to a communication from the Director Public Health on Friday, the infected person returned from the UAE on December 15. He was admitted to a private hospital with mild fever on the same day and tested COVID-19 positive on December16. The samples were sent to CCMB, Hyderabad, for genome sequencing and the result was declared as Omicron positive on December 23. Meanwhile, he recovered and discharged on December 22.
He is said to be stable and is in quarantine under close observation of the health department.
According to the health department, 53 international travellers and nine contacts were found to be COVID-19 positive and all the samples were sent for genome sequencing. The district administration in Visakhapatnam is in the process of tracing the contacts of the person who had tested Omicron positive.
A 39-year-old woman, who arrived in Vijayawada from Kuwait on December 19, tested positive for Omicron virus. She belongs to Inavalli mandal in the Konaseema region in East Godavari district.
East Godavari District Medical and Health Officer K.V.S. Gowreeswara Rao said the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, confirmed her sample as Omicron on Thursday night.
Dr. Rao said the health condition of the patient was stable and she was now under ‘home isolation’. The four family members of the woman, believed to be the primary contacts, have tested negative for Omicron, he said.
