Union Health Ministry on Thursday said that two cases of Omicron variant have been discovered in the country.
According to Joint Secretary of the Union Home Ministry Lav Agarwal, both cases have been identified in Karnataka.
“No severe symptoms of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 reported so far,” Agarwal said during a media briefing.
“All Omicron related cases are found to have mild symptoms so far. In all such cases in the country and across the world so far, no severe symptom has been noted. WHO has said that its emerging evidence is being studied,” he added.
The potentially more contagious Omicron variant was first reported to the WHO from South Africa on November 24, and has been designated as a “Variant of Concern”.
According to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Chief Commissioner, the 66-year-old patient had recovered and left for Dubai on November 27 “after repeat tests confirmed he had recovered from the infection.” The 46-year-old man, who is a local, has no travel history and was undergoing treatment at a hospital.
The government stated that 373 cases of Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 have been detected in 29 nations so far and India was monitoring the situation.
Omicron 3 Times More powerful than Delta or Beta Covid Variants:
A study by South African scientists published Thursday suggests the Omicron variant is three times more likely to cause reinfections compared to the Delta or Beta strains.
There were 35,670 suspected reinfections among 2.8 million individuals with positive tests until November 27. Cases were considered reinfections if they tested positive 90 days apart.
“Recent reinfections have occurred in individuals whose primary infections occurred across all three waves, with the most having their primary infection in the Delta wave,” tweeted Juliet Pulliam, director of the South African DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis.