Four South Africa returnees test positive for Covid-19 in Rajasthan

Five members of a family, including four South Africa returnees, have been quarantined after they tested positive for Covid-19 in Jaipur while their samples have been sent for genome sequencing

Five members of a family, including four South Africa returnees, have been quarantined after they tested positive for Covid-19 in Jaipur while their samples have been sent for genome sequencing.

Five members of a family, including four South Africa returnees, have been quarantined in Jaipur after they tested positive for Covid-19 while their samples have been sent for genome sequencing. (Bloomberg/ Representational image)

The development in Rajasthan came to light a day after two men in Karnataka tested positive on Thursday for the Omicron variant of Covid-19 that was first detected in South Africa.

Chief medical and health officer (Jaipur), Narottam Sharma, said a 71-year-old person was found positive for Covid-19 on Thursday.

He said when they conducted contact tracing, they found four of his relatives had arrived from South Africa on November 25. Sharma said samples of 14 members of the family, including the four returnees, were taken. He added that these four, including two children aged seven and 12, were later also found positive for Covid-19.

Sharma said the four live in South Africa and arrived in Jaipur with a Covid-19 negative report via Dubai. The family was tested in Dubai on November 22 and 23. The two adults among the four are fully vaccinated. Sharma said the four attended a wedding and came in contact with relatives from Sikar. Sharma said the district health officer in Sikar has been informed about this.

“As per the guidelines, the positive patients have been admitted to the Rajasthan University of Health Sciences, which is dedicated for Covid-19. Re-sampling of the patients has been done and contact tracing is on. The samples for genome sequencing have been sent; the report is awaited.”

The World Health Organisation declared Omicron a variant of concern last Friday. It suggested that preliminary evidence found an increased risk of reinfections as compared to other variants of concern. The new variant is heavily mutated with up to 30 mutations in the spike protein.

India has added 11 regions, including all of Europe, to the list of the “at risk” countries from where travellers would need to follow additional measures on arrival in the country, including post-arrival testing for infection.

State health minister Parsadi Lal Meena has separately ordered random sampling in crowded places such as markets, bus stands, railway stations, tourist places, and schools to control the Covid-19 spread. He added over 28,000 samples were being taken daily. Meena said this will be increased to 100,000.

Rajasthan now has 213 active cases, compared to zero on November 1. Jaipur accounts for the bulk of them -114.