Mumbai: A man who travelled from Zimbabwe to Gujarat’s Jamnagar has tested positive for the Omicron variant of coronavirus, the state health department said.
The man reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 during screening at the airport two days ago, following which the samples were sent for genome sequencing.
“A person who came from Zimbabwe was infected with Omicron. His sample has been sent to Pune,” an official said.
This is the third case of the Omicron variant in the country. The first cases of Omicron were reported in Karnataka.
A new variant of COVID-19 was first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) from South Africa on 25 November. According to WHO, the first known B.1.1.1.529 infection was from a sample collected on November 9 this year.
On 26 November, WHO named the new COVID-19 variant B.1.1529, which has been detected in South Africa as ‘Omicron’. The WHO has classified Omicron as having a ‘type of concern’.
Dozens of countries have imposed travel restrictions on southern African countries since the mutation was discovered.
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the new Omicron coronavirus variant has been confirmed in 23 countries and their number is expected to increase.
India has also added several countries to the list from where travellers would need to follow additional measures on arrival in the country, including post-arrival testing for infection.
Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and like us on Facebook for the latest updates and interesting stories.
