Bhubaneswar: Four more Omicron cases have been detected in Odisha, taking the total number of cases of the new COVID-19 variant in the state to eight on Sunday.
The fresh cases were reported by the Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), where swabs of patients testing COVID-19 positive are being sent for genome-sequencing to check for the presence of the Omicron variant.
All four are foreign returnees – 2 from Nigeria and as many from UAE.
“It is a continuous process. These cases could be detected due to our robust surveillance. The last four cases were either asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic. One among them has already tested negative. The health condition of the remaining three is stable,” said Director, Health Services, Bijay Mohapatra.
He further said that all foreign returnees are undergoing COVID test and samples of those found positive are being sent for genome sequencing.
On December 23, two patients, aged 11 and 15, who recently returned from “non at-risk” country Nigeria, tested positive for the Omicron variant.
Before that, two patients, aged 41 and 43, tested positive for the Omicron variant on December 21 after returning to the state from Nigeria and Qatar.
