Telangana reports four more Omicron cases

Hyderabad, Dec 21:  Telangana on Tuesday reported four new cases of Omicron, taking the state's tally to 24, a top health official said.

Three new cases of the new variant of Covid-19 were reported among passengers who came from other than "at risk" countries while one case was detected among contacts of Omicron positive passengers. This is the first case among the contacts in the state.

According to Director of Public Health Dr G. Srinivasa Rao, results of genome sequencing test of 13 samples are awaited.

The total number of Omicron cases among fliers from other than "at risk" countries rose to 19. Only four cases were reported among passengers from "at risk" countries.

A total of 9,122 passengers arrived at Hyderabad Airport from 10 "at risk" countries since December 1. Of them, 726 arrived on Tuesday. Four of those who arrived Tuesday were found Covid positive.

Health authorities at Hyderabad Airport are conducting RT-PCR tests on two per cent of the passengers coming from other than "at risk" countries. As per the Centre's guidelines, they are being allowed to go home even if they test Covid positive. However, their samples are being sent for genome sequencing. If they test Omicron positive, the authorities are tracing them on the basis of the address provided by them on arrival at the airport.

Meanwhile, 172 new Covid cases were reported in the state on Tuesday, pushing the cumulative tally to 6,79,892.

A total of 188 cases recovered during the last 24 hours taking the recovery rate to 98.87 per cent. Health officials said 3,625 cases are under treatment/isolation.