Omicron cases in India rise to 36; Karnataka, Chandigarh, Andhra report 1 each
The first Omicron cases of the country were also reported from Karnataka, where a doctor and a South African national tested positive for the latest variant of the coronavirus.
India’s tally of Omicron cases rose to 36 after three more people were detected with the latest variant of the coronavirus in Karnataka, Chandigarh and Andhra Pradesh, according to local officials on Sunday.

The first Omicron cases of the country were also reported from Karnataka, where a doctor and a South African national tested positive for the latest variant of the coronavirus.
Here is the latest on the three new Omicron cases in India:
1. A 34-year-old man, who came back from South Africa, has tested positive, Karnataka’s health minister Dr Sudhakar K said in a tweet. He has been isolated and being treated in a government hospital, the minister also said. Five of this primary and 15 secondary contacts have been traced and their samples sent for testing, he added.
2. The first case of the new Omicron variant of Covid-19 has been detected in Chandigarh with a 20-year-old Italian resident testing positive for the new variant on Saturday night, the health department said on Sunday.
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3. The man, a resident of Italy, landed in India on November 22 and tested negative for Covid-19 at his arrival at the Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport in Amritsar. He, then travelled to Chandigarh to meet his relatives and was staying in the Manimajra area.
4. The man, who is fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine and has been asymptomatic, was put under home quarantine and was tested again on December 1 after he completed eight days in quarantine, Chandigarh health department said.
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5. The Chandigarh health department said he tested positive for Covid-19 on December 1 after his sample was sent for genome sequencing at Delhi’s National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
6. The health department shifted the man to institutional quarantine at Manimajra Civil Hospital. His seven high-risk family contacts were also put under quarantine and were tested for Covid-19 on December 1. All of them were found negative for the virus.
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7. The man in Chandigarh has been tested for Covid-19 again on Sunday and the report is awaited.
8. In Andhra Pradesh, a 34-year-old foreign traveller, who came from Ireland to Mumbai Airport, was tested and found negative for Covid-19. He was allowed to travel to Visakhapatnam on November 27, 2021.
9. After he was found Covid-19 18 positive after a re-test at Vizianagaram, his sample was sent to CCMB, Hyderabad for genome sequencing and the result was declared as Omicron positive.
10. He does not have any symptoms and was re-tested on December 11 and his RT-PCR test result came negative.

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