Delhi detects four more Omicron cases

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Tuesday said four more cases of the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron, have been detected in Delhi and all have a travel history to foreign countries.

The Omicron variant of the coronavirus has not spread in the community so far and the situation is under control, he added.

“So far, six people have been found Omicron positive in the capital. One of them has been discharged. All of them had travelled to foreign countries and were transferred to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) hospital from the (Indira Gandhi International) airport,” Jain told reporters.

The condition of the remaining five Omicron-positive patients is stable, he said.

So far, 74 travellers have been sent from the airport to the hospital, where a special ward has been set up for isolating and treating suspected cases of Omicron. Thirty-six of them have been discharged and 38 are admitted to the hospital.

Jain said the government is fully prepared to tackle the spread of any variant of the coronavirus.

Delhi’s first patient of the Omicron variant — a 37-year-old man from Ranchi — was discharged on Monday after he tested negative for COVID-19 twice, officials said.

He had travelled from Tanzania to Doha and from there, to Delhi on a Qatar Airways flight on December 2. He stayed in Johannesburg in South Africa for a week and had mild symptoms.

Under new norms, RT-PCR tests are mandatory for the passengers arriving from the “at-risk” countries and they are allowed to leave the airport only after the results come.

Also, two per cent of the passengers arriving on flights from other countries are being tested randomly.

(Cover: Gettty)