Telangana Reports First 2 Cases Of Omicron At Hyd Airport, Both Came From Africa

TPI Staff December 15, 2021

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Omicron COVID-19 Variant Found In 38 Countries, No Deaths Reported Yet: WHO

Mumbai: Telangana reported its first two cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19. The patients had arrived at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport from Kenya and Somalia.

The infected person is a 24-year-old woman from Kenya and a 23-year-old man from Somalia, Telangana Director of Public Health (DPH) G Srinivasa Rao told the media on Wednesday.

The DPH said both patients had arrived at the airport on December 12 and on the night of December 14, genome sequencing results showed they were infected with the Omicron version of the coronavirus.

The Kenyan woman was traced to her residence in Tolichowki with the help of police personnel and shifted to the Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (TIMS) in Gachibowli for treatment. The DPH said his contacts, including that of his uncle and father, were also traced and tested.

The Somalian man has also been shifted to TIMS. The DPH also stated that both Omicron patients were asymptomatic.

Both Kenya and Somalia are not on the list of at-risk countries, and the Omicron cases were detected as part of the 2% random samples being collected for genome sequencing from non-at-risk countries, Srinivasa Rao said.