Karnataka on Thursday reported five new cases of Omicron Covid-19 variant, taking the total count to eight.
Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar announced the fresh cases in a tweet.
The health department said in a statement: “The current health status of these Omicron affected patients is good and no one has serious symptoms.”
The new cases include: A 19-year-old woman from the UK, a 52-year-old man from Nigeria housed at the Belagavi district hospital, a 70-year-old woman from Delhi, a 36-year-old man from Delhi and a 33-year-old man from South Africa.
The 19-year-old woman’s samples were collected at the city airport on December 13. She tested Covid positive, though she carried a negative report from the UK. She has been fully vaccinated with Covishield. She had got her second dose on August 12.
She was shifted in an ambulance from the airport to Bowring Hospital on the same day, and to a private hospital on December 14. She has no primary contact, as she travelled directly from the airport to hospital.
The 52-year-old man from Nigeria was carrying a negative report, but when tested on December 13 on arrival at the city airport, he tested positive.
Since he had a connecting flight to Belagavi in the next two hours, he was supposedly given permission to travel. He took a flight to Belagavi on December 14 and received a positive report there.
The 70-year-old woman’s sample was collected on December 5 at a private lab in Mahadevapura, as she was a primary contact of an Omicron-confirmed case in Delhi.
The 36-year-old man from Delhi, a contact of the 70-year-old woman, also had his samples collected at the same lab on December 5.
The 33-year-old man from South Africa, who travelled via Delhi, had his samples collected at a private city lab on December 10. He tested positive on December 11. The man had travelled on December 9. He received his second vaccine dose on August 27.
He was tested at Delhi airport and was negative for Covid on December 8. He was isolated at home in Bengaluru on December 9. He had developed mild symptoms on December 10. He has been shifted to a private hospital for treatment. All four of his primary contacts and 25 secondary contacts tested negative.
None of the designated private hospitals acknowledged receiving these patients.
Pattern repeating?
Dr C N Manjunath, member, State Covid Task Force, noted that the spread of Omicron cases now is following the pattern of previous years, especially of weeks before the first and second waves. “We are reaching that period of time between December and February where historically cases prompted by new variants started to rise,” he said. As per reports, Omicron cases are currently doubling every 1.9 days, down from 2.5 days on November 30. In Karnataka, growth of Omicron cases has implications for people in public spaces and in closed-door settings. “With Omicron, there is also the added threat of reinfections,” he added.
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