Mumbai Mayor Kishori Patankar said on Saturday that Mumbai has sent at least 288 samples of international travellers for genome sequencing to check if the returnees are infected with new Omicron variant of Covid-19 or not.
After three cases of the new variant were confirmed in India, the local administrations are keeping a strict watch on the international passengers who are returning to India from high-risk countries.
All these 288 people were tested positive for Covid-19 after landing in Mumbai and have been isolated at various quarantine facilities. The municipal corporation has directed Airport authorities to ensure testing of each and every passenger arriving at the airports from high-risk countries.
The authorities have also set a new standard operating procedure (SOP) regarding the new variant of the virus.
The civic authorities also said that they are maintaining a detailed list of the travelers, along with their personal details, travel history and details of their primary and secondary contacts. The contacts will be tested for Covid-19 if the passengers come out positive for the Omicron variant.
The authorities also said that they are implementing the central government’s direction of putting all the international travellers under home quarantine, after they are tested negative for the Covid 19 at their arrival at the airports. After seven days of home quarantine, the health authorities are conducting retest of all the travellers.
India confirmed its third case of the new Omicron variant of Covid-19 on Saturday, two days after two people were tested positive for the same variant, the government officials said. The recent patient is a 72-year-old man, who recently returned to India from Zimbabwe.