WEST BENGAL reported its first case of Omicron on Wednesday as a seven-year-old boy tested positive for the variant of the coronavirus in Kolkata.
The child, a resident of Murshidabad, had come to Kolkata via Hyderabad from Abu Dhabi a few days ago with his parents. Both parents have tested negative. The boy is in isolation and undergoing treatment at a local hospital in Murshidabad district.
According to senior health officials, another test would be done soon.
“He remains in isolation. All protocols are in place,” State Health Secretary NS Nigam told The Indian Express. The state health department was informed that the child tested positive for Omicron, sources said.
“The family recently visited the child’s maternal grandparents’ residence in Malda Kaliachak. Contact tracing is being done,” another senior health official said. The child has mild symptoms.
The child arrived in Hyderabad from Abu Dhabi, a non-high risk country, on December 11 at Hyderabad and then travelled to Kolkata the same day. His sample was sent for genome sequencing. It was found positive for Omicron variant and the authorities concerned in Hyderabad informed their Bengal counterparts. The child was admitted to Malda Medical college along with his father and sister. The child has mild symptoms and is stable now.
The child and his sister both tested negative on December 12. “Other household contacts all ware advised to maintain strict home isolation,” said Director of Health Services Dr Ajoy Chakraborty.
A state health department team is working on the contact tracing for the child for the past three days and taking measures to identify the passengers in the flight and also the child’s travel route.
“All necessary steps are being taken for containment and to stop the spread of this infection,” added an official.
“We got a list of 37 co-passengers from Air India. Contact was made with 27 passengers . None are showing any symptoms. All have been urged to go into isolation. Around ten passengers did not respond or could not be contacted. We will try again to track them,” said a senior health official.
Of the 27 who were contacted, 16 belonged to West Bengal. One passenger from Bengaluru, 4 from Hyderabad, 3 from Manipur, 1 from Meghalaya and 1 from Mizoram.
The list being is being shared with authorities in New Delhi for sharing with the states concerned.
A few days ago, a woman who returned from the UK tested positive for the Delta Plus variant of coronavirus. The detected variant was Delta Plus (AY.4.) which is also prevalent in the State. Omicron was not detected in her sample. The Omicron variant has been designated as a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The variant has also been classified as “highly transmissible”.
“It is likely that there could be an increase in Omicron cases and all stakeholders have been alerted. Airport and health officials…everyone is following protocols,” added an official.
Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/kolkata/kolkata-boy-bengal-first-reported-omicron-case-7674227/
