Hyderabad, Dec 18 : In a big jump in Omicron cases, Telangana on Saturday reported 12 new infections, taking the state’s tally to 20, a top health official said.
Ten of the new cases were reported among passengers who returned from other than ‘at risk’ countries, while two travellers from ‘at risk’ nations also tested positive for the new variant of Covid-19.
According to the director of public health, G.Srinivasa Rao, out of the 12 Omicron positive cases reported on Saturday, nine are of foreign origin and three are of Indian origin.Six of them had come from Kenya, two each from Somalia and the UAE, and one each from Ghana and Tanzania.
The total number of cases among fliers from other than ‘at risk’ countries rose to 17.However, the health department officials have put this number at 16 as a seven-year-old boy, who had tested positive, had left for Kolkata after arrival at Hyderabad Airport.
Till Friday, three Kenyans and one Sudanese were among those who had tested positive for Omicron.
It was on December 15 that Telangana reported its first Omicron case.
Majority of the cases were detected among passengers from other than ‘at risk’ counties.
Health authorities at Hyderabad Airport are conducting RT-PCR tests on 2 per cent of the passengers coming from other than ‘at risk’ countries.As per the Centre’s guidelines, they are being allowed to go home even if they test Covid positive.
However, their samples are being sent for genome sequencing.If they test Omicron positive, the authorities are tracing them on the basis of the address provided by them on arrival at the airport.
A total of 7,206 passengers arrived at Hyderabad Airport from 10 ‘at risk’ countries since December 1.Of them, 25 were found Covid positive and their samples were sent for genome sequencing.Four of these 25 have tested positive for Omicron.ms/arm
Telangana has 12 Omicron cases.
The total rises to 20
The majority of cases were found in passengers who came from countries other than those considered at risk.Hyderabad Airport health authorities are performing RT-PCR testing on 2 percent of passengers from countries other than at risk’. According to the Centre’s guidelines they can go home even though they have tested positive for Covid.Their samples will be sent to genome sequencing.
They will be traced based on their address given at arrival to the airport if they are positive for Omicron.
Since December 1, 7,206 people arrived in Hyderabad Airport, from 10 countries deemed ‘at-risk’.
Twenty-five of them were confirmed positive for Omicron and sent to Genome Sequencing.Fourteen of the 25 tested positive for Omicron.
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