12 Suspected Omicron Patients Admitted To Delhi's LNJP Hospital, Samples Sent For Genome Sequencing

Twelve suspected cases of Omicron have been admitted to hospitals in Delhi, eight have tested positive for the Covid 19 and their samples have been sent to check for Omicron.

12 suspected patients of Omicron have been admitted to LNJP Hospital

New Delhi: The Omicron variant of Covid 19 has spread to 38 nations now and India has registered two cases of the strain in Karnataka. Now, twelve suspected patients of Omicron, who flew in the national capital from "at risk" countries", are admitted to the Delhi government's LNJP hospital, according to a senior hospital official, reported PTI.

The report mentioned that of these, eight have tested positive for the virus and their samples have been sent for genome sequencing to detect if they are Omicron positive. Four of these patients four have symptoms like sore throat, fever, and history of contact with patients. The hospital officials informed that it may take four to five days to get the result of genome sequencing. 

"Four patients are from UK, four from France, two from the Netherlands, one from Belgium, and one from Tanzania. Two of the patients are foreign nationals," said Dr Suresh Kumar, medical director of the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital.

Four of the patients tested positive through RT-PCR while four tested positive through the rapid antigen test, he added.

Earlier this week, the Delhi government had designated the LNJP hospital for the treatment of patients infected with the new Omicron variant of coronavirus. The national capital’s largest hospital for Covid-19 treatment, LNJP hospital has created a special 40-bed ward to isolate those suspected of being infected with the new variant.

According to the Centre, the countries designated as "at-risk" include the UK, South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel.

Travellers from these "at-risk" countries are following additional measures on arrival in India from Tuesday midnight.

Under the new norms, RT-PCR tests are mandatory for passengers arriving from the "at-risk" countries and they will be allowed to leave the airport only after the results come.

Also, five per cent of the passengers arriving on flights from other countries will be subject to the test randomly.

(With PTI inputs)