Pune man returning from Zambia tests positive for Covid-19; samples sent for genome sequencing

Omicron (B.1.1.529) was first reported in Botswana on November 11 this year and appeared on November 14 in South Africa.

A person who returned to Pune from Zambia in November has tested positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), news agency ANI reported on Tuesday. Notably, this has caused a concern among the health community as the new variant of Covid-19, omicron, and considered more transmissible, is slowly spreading across the world.

Omicron (B.1.1.529) was first reported in Botswana on November 11 this year and appeared on November 14 in South Africa.(Unsplash / Representational Image)

The 19th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit

The 60-year-old man travelled from Zambia to Mumbai on November 20 and then travelled to Pune in a taxi, ANI reported, citing the officials at the Pune Municipal Corporation. The man's sample has been sent for genome sequencing and the report is awaited.

"The person who tested positive is around 60 years and is stable, asymptomatic and in-home isolation for now," the Pune Municipal Corporation officials were quoted as saying.

"Pune Municipal Corporation has conducted RT-PCR tests of his family members and the driver who travelled with him from Mumbai to Pune and all of them have tested negative," they added.

In the meantime, the municipal corporation has postponed the re-opening of schools for classes 1 to 7 in Pune till December 15 in view of the spread of the omicron variant of Covid-19 in parts of the world.

Omicron (B.1.1.529) was first reported in Botswana on November 11 this year and appeared on November 14 in South Africa. It has been declared a 'variant of concern' by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Meanwhile, two people who returned from South Africa tested positive for Covid-19 in Karnataka. As a result, the authorities have made seven days quarantine compulsory for all international passengers and intensified testing and sanitisation at Bengaluru airport amid increasing concern over omicron.

Karnataka health minister Dr K Sudhakar said on Monday the samples of one of the two passengers tested positive for coronavirus but was "a little different from the delta variant."