Omicron: Andhra Pradesh reports 2 more Omicron cases, tally reaches 4

Andhra Pradesh reported two new Omicron cases on Friday, increasing the state's tally to four.

The variant was detected in two international travellers who arrived last week, according to health officials said.

After landing at Vijayawada, a 41-year-old woman, who arrived from Kuwait on December 19, left for Nedunuru Pedapalem village in East Godavari district.

A health official said the woman had tested positive for Covid and her sample was sent to Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) Hyderabad for genome sequencing, after which she was confirmed to be infected with Omicron.

In the second case, a 33-year-old man, who arrived in Visakhapatnam from the UAE on December 15, was admitted to a hospital with mild fever and was found to be infected with Covid. His sample was also sent to the CCMB where genome sequencing, where it was confirmed it to be a case of Omicron.

Health officials said both the patients were placed in institutional quarantine and were under close observation and Director of public health Dr G. Hymavathi said they were both doing well.

On Wednesday, a 39-year-old female foreign traveller, who came from Kenya on December 10, was found positive for Omicron.

The state had reported the first Omicron case on December 12. A 34-year-old man, who returned from Ireland late last month, had tested positive for the new variant, health officials said.

So far, a total of 45 foreign travellers and nine contacts have been found Covid positive and all the samples were sent to CCMB for genome sequencing.