Bhubaneswar: The sample of more person, who had recently returned from UAE, was found infected with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Odisha after genome sequencing, the Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar, informed on Wednesday.
The infected is a 31-year-old man of Keonjhar. He has been admitted to the private hospital, the health department sources said, adding that contact tracing of those who were exposed to him is on.
With this, the Omicron tally in the state has touched 9.
“He had returned from Dubai on December 16 and had travelled to Odisha from Kolkata with a COVID negative certificate. He stayed in isolation and was later found infected. His parents, however, have tested negative for the virus. They will undergo another RT-PCR test,” said Director, Health Services, Bijay Kumar Mohapatra.
On December 26, four foreign returnees – 2 from Nigeria and as many from UAE – had tested positive for the highly-mutated variant.
On December 23, two patients, aged 11 and 15, who recently returned from “non at-risk” country Nigeria, were also found infected.
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.
Also Read: Odisha Reports 4 More Omicron Cases; Know Their Travel History
On December 27, one of the first two COVID-19 patients in Odisha to be detected with the Omicron variant was discharged from a private hospital here after undergoing treatment for 10 days. The patient, admitted to the Ashwini Hospital here, was discharged after his COVID results came negative twice in 14 hours.
Also Read: Among Odisha’s First Two Omicron Cases, Patient Discharged From Hospital In Cuttack
