Two Omicron Cases In Hyderabad

Two Omicron cases have been indentified in Hyderabad, and the state government has gone on high alert.

The CCMB had confirmed two cases - persons who came from Kenya and Somalia and had tested positive for the novel coronavirus - as positive after genome sequencing, Health Director G Srinivas Rao said.

One of the two was a 23-year-old youth who had come from Somalia for the treatment of his father, and was found at Paramount Colony in the city, the director said. His father and he had visited a few hospitals in the city, and the samples of everyone they were in touch with were being sent for genome sequencing, Rao said. The youth himself has been sent to TIMS in Gachibowli for quarantine and treatment.

The second person was a 24-year-old Kenyan woman, who has also been traced and sent to TIMS.

In addition, a boy of seven who had come to the Shamshabad airport had also tested positive, but he had left for West Bengal without entering the city, and so there was no fear from him, Rao said.

He added that there was no truth in the news that a person with Omicron had run away from a hospital. He also asserted that there was no need for panic or fear as long as people wore masks, got fully vaccinated and followed the coronavirus protocols. Though the Omicron variant spread fast, it was found to cause milder symptoms, he said. The government was ready with medical facilities to tackle any situation, he claimed.