Fear of the new variant is high, given the concerns over its transmissibility and its ability to evade vaccine-induced immunity.
“We are tracing three types of contacts — primary, secondary and tertiary. We have already traced the remotest contacts of these two cases,” said Sujeet Kumar Singh, director of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). The anaesthetist tested positive on November 22 and five of his contacts tested positive between November 22 and 25, Karnataka health officials said in a statement. The samples of the contacts have been sent for genome sequencing. Officials point out that an absence of travel history for the doctor suggests the presence of the virus in the community.
The doctor and his contacts are in hospital isolation. Thirteen of the man’s primary contacts and 205 secondary ones have been traced so far.
The 66-year-old South African national travelled from his country, labelled ‘at risk’, on November 20. Asked to self-isolate at a city hotel, he left on November 27 for Dubai before authorities got the results of his genome sequencing.
The two Omicron patients showed only mild symptoms. Both were double-vaccinated.
The new Omicron variant of SARS-CoV2 — first reported by South Africa — is spreading rapidly in many countries and appears to be outcompeting other variants in transmissibility. “The new variant is possibly around 500% more competitively infectious,” said Lav Agarwal, joint secretary in the health ministry.
Omicron is “heavily mutated” with 45-52 amino acid changes across the whole genome and 26-32 changes in the spike protein — the part that attaches to human cells — Agarwal said, underlining that the variant is considered to be highly transmissible, and has improved binding affinity.
However, on the upside, all Omicron patients are found to have mild symptoms so far. The government said the situation is being closely examined and all issues including a ban on international flights is under discussion within the technical and scientific circles. “Let us not fear or panic, let us all be responsible. It is an unfolding situation and we are all learning,” said VK Paul, member health, NITI Aayog.
Officials emphasised that the tools to combat even the new variant remain the same. While full vaccination was underlined as a must to protect against severe disease, officials also stressed on the need to wear masks properly and adhere to other Covid-appropriate behaviour like avoiding crowd and hand sanitisation. “Even after this new challenge of Omicron, vaccination is the most critical tool that we have to use and we are fortunate that we have that tool in plenty,” Paul said.
The Bengaluru municipal corporation has traced 264 persons in contact with the man from South Africa and none of them tested positive. In the anaesthetist’s case, a total of 218 contacts have been traced and five of them have tested positive, including three primary contacts and two secondary ones. Following the detection of these two cases of Omicron, Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai will chair a meeting of health department authorities, the health minister and Covid technical advisory committee members on Friday.