A 71-year-old non-resident Indian (NRI) who landed in Jamnagar city from Zimbabwe on Sunday was admitted to the isolation ward of a government hospital after he tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday, authorities said. His samples have been sent for genome sequencing and he has been admitted to a separate ward as he comes from Africa from where the Omicron variant of the virus has been reported. Covid cases in Gujarat continued to rise on Thursday with 50 fresh cases and one death in Rajkot. The state last reported as many cases in the second week of July. Ahmedabad city reported 15 cases while Vadodara reported 10 cases. Dr SS Chatterjee, nodal officer of Covid-19 for Jamnagar district, told The Indian Express, “The patient came to Jamanagar on November 28. After developing some respiratory trouble, he got tested at a private lab in the city and the results returned positive. He was isolated immediately in the Covid-19 hospital set up by the Reliance Foundation at the Dental College of Jamnagar Medical College.” Dr Chatterjee, who is also a senior doctor at the state government-run Guru Gobind Singh Government Hospital, popularly known as GG Hospital, said that there were six other Covid-19 patients undergoing treatment in the GG Hospital but the NRI has been kept in a separate facility due to his travel history. “We have admitted him to a separate facility, following isolation protocol. His samples have been sent to Pune for genome sequencing and the results are expected in a week. He is clinically stable,” Dr Chatterjee added. The Omicron variant of Sars-Cov-2, which has spread in some parts of the African continent, has been flagged by the World Health Organisation as a variant of concern due to its high virulence. Dr Rujuta Joshi, municipal officer of health (MoH) of Jamnagar Municipal Corporation, said that the patient is a citizen of Zimbabwe. “He is a retired person. His wife is a native of Jamnagar and the family were paying a visit to the city. While the man has been admitted to the GG hospital, 10 other members in the family have been isolated at their home,” said Dr Joshi.
