A 32-year-old man who tested positive for coronavirus in Maharashtra after returning from South Africa has been kept in isolation at a civilian COVID-19 care center and his sample sent for genome sequencing, potentially more transmissible. Amid concerns there is a new ‘Omicron’ version of the virus, an official said on Monday.
The result will be known after seven days, said Dr Pratibha Panpatil, Epidemic Control Officer, Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC).
The official said it was not yet known whether he had contracted the ‘Omicron’ version of the virus, which was identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a type of concern.
KDMC Commissioner Dr Vijay Suryavanshi has appealed to the citizens of Kalyan-Dombivli township not to panic over the recent developments and strictly follow the COVID-19 safety protocols.
The Merchant Navy engineer had reached Dombivli town in Thane district on November 24 after traveling from South Africa, Dubai and Delhi.
Panpatil said that he later underwent a test as per the recent protocol of the government due to the new virus variant, and was found to have contracted the coronavirus.
Another official said that eight members of his family were also tested and their reports came back negative.
Panpatil said that the civic authorities are collecting the details of his co-travellers to know their health status.
After the engineer arrived from South Africa, his brother went for the test and it turned out to be negative for coronavirus.
He then informed a laboratory that his engineer brother, who had come from South Africa, had tested positive for coronavirus but was asymptomatic and was being given a regular course of medicine, the official said.
“At present, the engineer is under isolation and is being treated at a civilian COVID-19 care center in Dombivli. He is responding to medication but is depressed for which he is being counselled,” the official said. has been.”
He said that the person would be under observation till the report of his genome sequencing analysis is received.
Another Omnicron panic in Madhya Pradesh
Officials search for woman from South Africa who went to Madhya Pradesh amid fear of Omicron
Madhya Pradesh authorities are searching for a woman from Botswana who had come to Jabalpur on November 18. “A Botswana embassy official told us that he is in isolation at a military organization in Jabalpur. We have asked him to share his mobile number and his local contact,” said an official. Botswana is a landlocked country in southern Africa where omicrons have been detected.
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A relatively unknown cryptocurrency called Omicron (OMIC) surged over 900% as the WHO gave the same name to the newly discovered COVID-19 variant. The crypto token, which was priced around $65 (approximately ₹4,880) on November 27, touched a peak of $689 (approximately ₹51,730) on Monday. This also came as the crypto market collapsed following the discovery of the variant.