Panchkula detected its first Omicron case on Sunday even as Chandigarh added two more cases of the new variant to its tally.
Panchkula’s case is 23-year-old woman, who is a student in the US and had recently come to visit her family in Kalka. She has a sister, who is currently in the US.
She had tested positive for Covid-19 on December 18, while her genome sequencing reports were received on Sunday.
In Chandigarh, the two new Omicron cases are family members of the 20-year-old Italian resident, who was UT’s first Omicron case. Chandigarh’s Omicron tally now stands at three, of which two patients have already recovered and only one is an active case.
5 family members of P’kula woman in quarantine
After testing positive on December 18, the 23-year-old was found negative for Covid-19 during a re-test on December 25 (Saturday). Though her institutional quarantine period is now over, she will continue to be home isolation.
Five of her family members have also been placed under home quarantine. They were tested for Covid-19 immediately after she was found infected. In the first test, they had all tested negative, but they may be tested again.
Genome sequencing reports of 3 pending
{{/usCountry}}Genome sequencing reports of 3 pending
{{/usCountry}}After the Italian resident was found positive for Omicron variant, the samples of his five family contacts were also sent for genome sequencing to Delhi.
“Of the five genome sequencing samples sent for testing to National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Delhi, the UT health department received two reports on Sunday and both people were found to be positive for Omicron variant. One of them is an 80-year-old man, who is a patient of hypertension but is asymptomatic for Covid-19. He has been isolated in a government hospital. Since he was found positive for Covid-19 in the retest on December 24, he is still considered as the ‘active’ Omicron case. The man will be retested again on January 1, 2022,” said Dr Suman Singh, director, health services, Chandigarh said.
“The second infected patient, a 45-year-old man, was reported negative for Covid-19 on December 24, and hence, he has recovered from the virus and has been discharged,” added Dr Singh.
The genome sequencing reports of remaining three family members are pending but they all tested negative for the virus on December 24 and have been discharged.
The Italian resident had arrived at Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport on November 22 and tested negative for Covid-19. As per protocol, he was put under home quarantine in Manimajra and re-tested on December 1, when he completed the eight-day quarantine period. In the second test, he was found infected with the virus. Due to his travel history, his samples were sent for genome sequencing to check for the variant of concern. On December 12, it was confirmed he was infected with Omicron.