Karnataka COVID-19
Karnataka airport detects COVID strain 'different from Delta': Health minister
Bengaluru/IBNS: A passenger back from South Africa has tested positive for a COVID-19 strain "different than Delta", Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said on Monday amid fears of new variant Omicron.
The test samples 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.
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.
Amid concerns over the new coronavirus variant 'Omicron', first identified in South Africa, international passengers will have to furnish 14 days' travel history and also upload negative COVID-19 test results, the government announced on Sunday.
A mandatory seven-day home quarantine has been made compulsory for travellers, who test negative, from countries deemed 'at risk', the Union Health Ministry had said.
In wake of the emergence of Omicron, the government issued revised travel guidelines, which will come into effect from Dec 1, for international passengers.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared Omicron a variant of concern.
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