Five more in Tamil Nadu detected with S-gene drop raising suspicion of Omicron

Five more people in Tamil Nadu have been detected with S-Gene drop, indicating that they might also have been infected by Omicron variant of coronavirus, the government said on Thursday.

The state reported the first Omicron case on Wednesday, after the genome sequencing of the sample of a 47-year-old man who arrived in Chennai from Nigeria, revealed that he was infected by the new strain. Six of his family members had S-gene drop in them raising suspicion of Omicron infection.

#TN Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan visited the King Institute where close contacts of the passenger from Nigeria who had tested +ve for #Omicron are admitted. Their RT-PCR test revealed the presence of S-gene dropout. Their samples results are yet to arrive. @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/vR6DATjMmG

— Janardhan Koushik (@koushiktweets) December 16, 2021

After inspecting the residential locality of the seven passengers, along with Chennai Corporation officials, Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said five more people have been detected with S-gene drop raising suspicion of being infected by Omicron variant.

“On Wednesday we had declared one confirmed Omicron case after the person’s sample result was released by the National Institute of Virology, Pune. Six of his family members had S-gene drop in them. We are awaiting their sample results.” he told reporters in Chennai.

“Today another passenger who had travelled with seven others in the same flight from Nigeria, has tested Covid-19 positive and also been detected with S-gene drop. Four of his family members also have tested Covid-19 positive and have been detected with S-Gene drop,” he said.

The patients are stable and their samples have been sent for genomic sequencing analysis. They are being continuously monitored by senior doctors at the hospital (King Institute).