Amid rising fears about the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, health department officials in Gujarat have confirmed that a businessman from Surat has tested positive for the Omicron variant, making him the fourth such case in the state.
According to the health officials in the state, the patient is a 42-year-old man from Surat who recently returned from South Africa on Monday, and has tested positive for the new COVID-19 variant. The total number of Omicron cases in India has now crossed the 40-mark.
Before this, a total of three Omicron cases were detected in Gujarat. All three cases were reported from Jamnagar district in the state, which included a 72-year-old NRI man who had returned from Zimbabwe, his wife, and his brother-in-law.
As per the reports of the health officials, the 42-year-old patient found infected with the Omicron strain is a businessman based in Surat.
"He had arrived at Delhi airport from South Africa via Kenya and Abu Dhabi on December 3. He had tested negative for coronavirus," deputy Municipal Commissioner, Health, Ashish Naik said. The person again tested negative on December 4.
“After he was hospitalised briefly for isolation here, he tested positive for coronavirus on December 8, following which we sent his sample for genome sequencing. He was detected with the Omicron variant on Monday," Naik said.
The patient is under treatment in home isolation, the official said, adding that all his relatives and all the four co-passengers have tested negative for COVID-19.
On Monday, two new cases of the Omicron variant were reported from Maharashtra, taking the total number of new variant cases in the state up to 20. Maharashtra has the highest number of Omicron cases till now, with Rajasthan a close second with 13 Omicron cases.
Amid the increase in the spread of the Omicron variant, all the states and UTs have tightened their international travel guidelines, as ordered by the Centre. Now, all the passengers from at-risk countries will have to undergo a COVID-19 test before leaving the airport.
(With PTI inputs)
