Two Omicron cases detected in West Bengal

Kolkata Dec 23 (IANS) West Bengal is no more Omicron-free, while two foreign returnees - one from Nigeria and another from the UK - testing positive positive for the variant, officials said on Thursday.The two, who had tested positive for Covid-19, on Wednesday were found to have been infected by the Omicron variant, a senior health official said.One of the two persons, a resident of Alipore area in Kolkata, had returned from the UK recently. He was tested Covid-19 positive and samples were sent for genome sequencing.The second person, who also recently returned to the state from Nigeria, also tested Covid-19 positive and his specimens were also sent for genome sequencing.Currently, both are under treatment and isolation at a private hospital and their condition is said to be stable."Contact tracing has also been done but none has been found positive," the Health Department official said.Earlier, a seven-year boy who had returned to the state from Abu Dhabi via Hyderabad had tested positive for the Omicron strain. But in the second testing, he was found negative and has been advised home isolation.
--IANS sbg/vd

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