India's first case of Omicron coronavirus may have arrived

Hyderabad : Looks like Omicron has reached India via a passenger from South Africa. Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said that a passenger from S. Africa has tested positive for coronavirus and his symptoms are different from the Delta variant.

His tested sample has been sent for genome sequencing, so for now he is just a suspicious case and not a confirmed case of Omicron in India.

This comes after two passengers from South Africa tested positive for coronavirus; one of them has been diagnosed with the Delta variant.

Dr Sudhakar has now called a meeting with health officials while Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has urged the centre to stop passengers from South Africa, Botswana and Hong Kong from entering the country.

"There is a delta variant for the past nine months only, but you are saying that one of the samples is Omicron. I cannot say about it officially. I am in touch with the ICMR and central government officials," Dr Sudhakar said, according to a report by news agency PTI.

He added that he has sought a detailed report on the Omicron strain. "We will get clear information on December 1 about how the Omicron behaves after the genomic sequencing. Accordingly, we will initiate all measures," he said.   

Meanwhile, India has tightened security measures for passengers arriving from 'at risk' nations.