Tamil Nadu reports first case of Omicron variant

Six persons from the patient’s family and a co-traveller have also tested positive and their samples have also been sent for testing

A 47-year-old man, who tested positive for Covid-19 after he returned from Nigeria via Doha, is found to have been infected with the Omicron variant following genomic sequencing of his samples. This is the first case of the “variant of concern” reported in Tamil Nadu.

Six persons from the patient’s family and a co-traveller have also tested positive and their samples have also been sent for genomic sequencing after their samples showed S Gene drop.

“The 47-year-old man who returned from Doha is infected with the Omicron variant of Covid-19. He is asymptomatic and is doing fine at the King Institute. Doctors told me that the patient has a mild infection, and he is double vaccinated,” Health Minister Ma Subramanian told reporters late Wednesday.

Of the six family members, one is minor and the remaining have taken both doses of vaccination. “They are all doing fine, and there is nothing to worry about. Their condition reinforces the fact that vaccination reduces the risk of high levels of infection. We appeal to the people who are yet to take their jabs to come forward and get vaccinated immediately,” the minister said.

Subramanian also said over 60 persons who returned from foreign countries have so far tested positive for Covid-19 following their screening at airports. Twelve government labs in the state have begun using Thermo Fischer TaqPath Assay as a proxy test for the Omicron variant, pending sequencing confirmation.

The Thermo TaqPath RT-PCR test kits are being used to test samples taken from international travellers and others. Five labs in Chennai, two in Coimbatore and one each in Tiruchirappalli, Salem, Madurai, Tuticorin and Kanyakumari have begun testing the samples. All samples that return positive will be sent for genomic sequencing.

Tamil Nadu has so far administered over 7 crore vaccine doses and is fast-tracking vaccination by holding two special camps across the state every week. The state has also found that the death rate among the vaccinated population is very less, while it is quite high among the unvaccinated.

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