Omicron: Hunt on in Andhra Pradesh to trace 30 foreign returnees

New Delhi, Dec 03: Following the detection of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in India, a search is on for 30 missing foreign returnees in Andhra Pradesh.

The Andhra Pradesh administration is searching for 30 of the 60 foreign returnees for conducting RT-PCR tests to rule out Omicron. Around 60 passengers including nine from Africa who landed at various airports went to Visakhapatnam in the past 10 days. 30 of them are staying in Visakhapatnam, while the rest have left for various places in Andhra Pradesh.

Three from South Africa and six from Botswana came to the city and officials have managed to trace six of them. The remaining three two from Botswana and one from South Africa have left for their villages in Krishna district and a search is on to trace them.

The Omicron variant of COVID-19 can be five times more infectious than the other known variants of COVID-19, Joint Secretary of Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said at a briefing. The Omicron variant was found in two persons in Karnataka. One of them is aged 66 and the other 46.