Gujarat’s fourth case: Diamond trader who traveled to South Africa turns Omicron positive

According to the SMC health official, the 42-year-old is a fully-vaccinated diamond trader with a travel history to South Africa. He had, however, tested negative for Covid-19 on his arrival at Surat. A resident of Ashwani Kumar Road in Varachha, his RTPCR returned positive when he was tested again on the eighth day since his arrival as per protocol. Following this, his sample was sent to the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC), Gandhinagar, for whole-genome sequencing. GBRC confirmed the presence of the Omicron variant in the sample Monday evening. The patient is reportedly asymptomatic, stable and in home isolation.

“After he was tested positive, we took samples and sent them to GBRC in Gandhinagar for genome sequencing on December 10. To date, we have sent 64 samples for genome sequencing from Surat to GBRC. Generally, GBRC does not send reports of those who are not detected with Omicron. On Monday evening, they sent the positive report of Omicron of the 42-year-old diamond trader. We have kept him under strict home isolation treatment and our teams are keeping a watch on him. His family members also were tested and they all returned negative,” said SMC deputy health commissioner Dr Ashish Naik. The diamond trader had returned from South Africa via Abu Dhabi and New Delhi and landed at the Surat airport on December 2.

Meanwhile, Surat city reported only two cases of Covid-19 Monday while Ahmedabad city reported 18 and Vadodara city 12 cases.

Wednesday also saw the state marking its seventh Covid fatality in less than two weeks this month with a fatality in Valsad. The number of deaths is a departure from three deaths reported in November.