104 passengers from high-risk countries test COVID positive in Tamil Nadu

Talking to reporters here, he said a total of 3,000 samples were lifted in the past fortnight of which 82 of them had the S-gene dropout, which was seen as a marker for the Omicron variant, which has been spreading faster than the delta variant.

“Their condition is stable,” he added.

Subramanian said while 13 samples that returned from the Union government’s testing laboratories had shown the S-gene dropout, eight tested positive for the Delta variant. Four samples had been labelled ‘non-sequence’.

"Till date, 22 people have recovered and returned home", he said.

Stating that only one case of Omicron variant was reported in Tamil Nadu till date when a passenger, who came from the low-risk Nigeria tested positive, the Minister said the 47-year-old male passenger would undergo another RT-PCR test in one or two days.

Subramanian said results from the Union government’s gene-sequencing laboratory in Bengaluru for the samples it had sent will be received in a day or two after which a clearer picture would emerge on how many  travellers were infected with the Omicron variant.

"As on date, only one case of Omicron has been reported Tamil Nadu," he said.

Observing that number of COVID cases has been on the higher side amongpassengers from non-risk countries, rather than high-risk countries, he said the State government has sought permission from the Centre to test allpassengers arriving from low-risk countries to prevent possible spread of Omicron in the State--hither only two per cent of travellers were subjected to random testing.

"We are awaiting a response from the Union Health Ministry," he said.