Karnataka State records six more Omicron cases, tally now 14

Bengaluru: Six more cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus have been detected in Karnataka, the State's Health Department said on Saturday.

Of the six cases, one is a passenger from the UK, while five others have been detected from COVID-19 clusters that have emerged from two educational institutions in Dakshina Kannada district, and their travel history or contact with the international traveller is being ascertained.

This takes the state's tally of Omicron cases to fourteen.

While the international passenger from UK and one person, a 19-year-old from one of the clusters, received two doses of Covid vaccine, the other four are not vaccinated.

"Two cluster outbreaks of COVID have been reported from two educational institutions in Dakshina Kannada today: Cluster 1: 14 cases (of which 4 are Omicron). Cluster 2: 19 cases (1 is Omicron). A traveller from UK has also tested positive for Omicron," Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar said in a tweet.

Sharing details about the cases, the Health Department said, the 18-year-old woman passenger from the UK, an Indian national, had got tested on December 10, at the airport on arrival.

"Once tested positive at Airport, she was immediately shifted in an ambulance to Hospital the same day. Patient is asymptomatic and vitals are stable. Primary contacts-3 and 16 Secondary contacts all are tested and reported negative," it said.

Among the cases from the clusters, the 19-year-old woman, who is vaccinated, gave her samples for COVID test on December 8 at a College in Mangaluru and her reports came on December 9. She is asymptomatic and her vitals are stable, the department said. Her primary contacts - 42 and secondary contacts-293 all have been tested, and of them 18 students tested positive and the rest negative.

She is a cluster case from where 19 samples were sent for genome sequencing, according to the department.

The remaining four cases are girls, three are 14-years-old and one is aged 13, and they have not been vaccinated, it said.

They gave their samples for COVID test on November 21 in a College at Bantwal and their reports came on 22nd, the department said, adding the patients were symptomatic – fever, loss of taste and smell. They were isolated at the hostel and have recovered presently.

Their primary contacts -79 and secondary contacts - 203 all have been tested, and of them 13 students were positive and rest negative, it further said, adding that they are cluster cases from where 12 samples were sent for genome sequencing.

The new cases of Omicron have been detected after five cases were reported in the state on Thursday.

Earlier, the country's first two Omicron cases-- a South African national who has left the country, and the other a local person, a doctor with no travel history, were detected in Karnataka on December 2.

Following this, a 34-year-old Bengaluru native who returned to the city following a business trip in South Africa had become the third case on December 12.