Odisha reports its first Omicron cases; returnees from Nigeria, Qatar diagnosed with variant

The Nigeria returnee is from Jagatsinghpur and the Qatar-returnee is from Khurda. "Close contacts of the positive persons have been in isolation and their samples will be sent for genome sequencing," director of public health Dr Niranjan Mishra said.

So far, since November 1, more than 6,000 people have come from abroad to Odisha, as per information on the Air Suvidha portal. (PTI Photo/File)

Odisha on Tuesday reported its first two cases of Covid-19 due to the Omicron variant of coronavirus. A 41-year-old man who had returned from Nigeria and a 43-year-old man who had returned from Qatar were the two diagnosed with Omicron, health department officials said.

The Nigeria returnee is from Jagatsinghpur and the Qatar-returnee is from Khurda. “They were earlier tested positive for Covid-19 and now their samples have confirmed Omicron after genome sequencing at the Institute of Life Sciences in Bhubaneswar, officials said.

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“All the cases are being closely monitored and there is no need to panic. Close contacts of the positive persons have been in isolation and their samples will be sent for genome sequencing,” director of public health Dr Niranjan Mishra said.

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So far, since November 1, more than 6,000 people have come from abroad to Odisha, as per information on the Air Suvidha portal. Of these, the state government has identified 1,303 persons who have returned from high-risk countries. Of them, seven tested positive for Covid-19 and their samples were sent for genome sequencing. Results of the remaining five samples are still awaited.

Odisha on Tuesday reported 146 new positive cases of Covid-19, out of which 25 are between the age of 0-18. With 52,434 samples tested in the last 24 hours, the test positivity rate is 0.27. The number of active cases in the state is 1,792.

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