Bengaluru: A passenger back from South Africa has tested positive for a Covid strain “different than Delta”, Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said today and added that the state government is closely looking at the new ‘Omicron’ strain that has set off alarm bells across the country.
The test samples, he said, have been sent for genome sequencing for further examination, he said.
This comes after two South African nationals who arrived in the city tested positive for Covid earlier this month. One of them has been found to be infected by the Delta strain.
Dr Sudhakar has now called a meeting with health officials while Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has urged the centre to stop passengers from South Africa, Botswana and Hong Kong from entering the country.
The minister said he was in touch with the Union Health Ministry and officials of the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR).
“There is a delta variant for the past nine months only, but you are saying that one of the samples is Omicron. I cannot say about it officially. I am in touch with the ICMR and central government officials,” Dr Sudhakar said, according to a report by news agency PTI.
