Nigeria's public health authorities on Wednesday said that the new COVID variant, omicron, was identified in samples from three passengers travelling to country from South Africa.
No case of COVID-19 variant omicron has been reported in India so far, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had said in Rajya Sabha during Question Hour on Tuesday, 30 November.
Meanwhile, Brazil confirmed Latin America's first two Omicron variant cases, according to AFP.
'Omicron,' which has been declared as a variant of concern by the World Health Organization (WHO), has raised concerns across the globe
According to World Health Organization, it is not yet clear whether Omicron is more transmissible or severe compared to Delta
The Omicron variant is likely to spread internationally, posing a "very high" global risk where COVID-19 surges could have "severe consequences," WHO had said on Monday, 29 November
The B.1.1.529 strain of COVID-19, or Omicron, was first reported in South Africa on 24 November 2021
In India, travellers from “at-risk” countries will have to go undergo a mandatory 7-day quarantine, even if they test negative for the virus
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Four People Test Positive for COVID at IGI Airport
Four passengers tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday night at Indira Gandhi International Airport. They have been admitted to Delhi government-run Lok Nayak Jai Prakash hospital, reported IANS.
According to a source, the four travellers, who tested positive for COVID-19, were coming from London and Amsterdam and landed at IGI Airport on Tuesday night. Their samples have been sent for genome sequencing lab attached to the hospital, according to IANS.
Six People From 'At-Risk' Countries Test Positive in Maharashtra
Six people who arrived in Maharashtra from 'at risk' countries have tested COVID positive, the state health department said on Wednesday morning.
All of them are either asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic and their samples have been sent for genome sequencing. Contact tracing for all of them is also underway.
Omicron Identified in Samples of 3 Travellers to Nigeria From South Africa
Nigeria's public health authorities said on Wednesday that omicron has been identified in samples from three passengers travelling to the country from South Africa, reported AFP.
"Genomic surveillance has now identified and confirmed Nigeria's first cases of the B.1.1.529 SARS-CoV-2 lineage, now known as the Omicron variant," the head of Nigeria's Centre for Disease Control, Ifedayo Adetifa, said.
Intensified Surveillance at Hyderabad Airport
Dr G Srinivas Rao, Director of Public Health and Family Welfare, Telangana, told news agency ANI that the surveillance mechanism at the Hyderabad airport has been intensified.
He was quoted as saying, "We've deployed around 10 mobile health teams for thermal screening of international passengers on arrival."
He added, "Passengers arriving from 'at risk' countries, as specified by the Government of India, need to undergo an RT-PCR test on arrival. If found positive for COVID, they'll be shifted to a designated health facility where their health will be monitored for a period 14 days," ANI reported.
Further, Rao said, "For passengers arriving from non 'at risk' countries, random testing will be done. If anyone of them is found positive, the same procedure will be followed... From these (at risk) countries, we received 41 passengers on Monday and no one tested positive."