Omicron Scare: Nine International Travellers Including One From South Africa Test Positive for COVID-19 at Mumbai

Mumbai, December 3: Nine international travellers, including one from South Africa, who arrived at Mumbai International Airport between November 10 - December 2 have tested positive for COVID-19, said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Friday.

The BMC has sent the samples of the patients for genome sequencing to find out if they are positive for the new COVID-19 variant Omicron.

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Meanwhile, the Centre on Thursday informed that two people have tested positive for the Omicron variant in Karnataka.

The new variant of COVID-19 was first reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO) from South Africa on November 25. As per the WHO, the first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on November 9 this year.

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On November 26, the WHO named the new COVID-19 variant B.1.1.529, which has been detected in South Africa, as 'Omicron'. The WHO has classified Omicron as a 'variant of concern'.

Dozens of countries have imposed travel restrictions on the southern African nations since the mutation was discovered.

The new Omicron coronavirus variant has been confirmed in 23 countries and their number is expected to rise, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had said.

India has also added several countries to the list from where travellers would need to follow additional measures on arrival in the country, including post-arrival testing for infection.

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