Omicron in Delhi? At least 10 suspected patients admitted to LNJP hospital

The fear of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, which is deadlier than the delta variant, has gripped the country after the government confirmed two cases in Karnataka on Thursday. Amid the scare, at least 10 people suspected to be infected with Omicron have been admitted to Delhi's Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital (LNJP), news agency IANS has reported.

Talking to IANS, Dr Suresh Kumar, Medical Director, LNJP Hospital, which has been designated for the Omicron infection treatment, said on Friday, "We have admitted a total 10 individuals who are suspected to be of new Covid variant Omicron". The doctor underlined that 'none of them have been identified yet to have been infected with the Omicron variant'. He said that their genome sequencing reports are awaited.

Kumar said that samples, which have been identified, will be sent for sequencing on Friday.

On Thursday, Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain had informed that eight samples were sent for genome sequencing. However, their reports are also awaited. Earlier in the day, the Union Health Ministry informed that two cases of the potentially more dangerous coronavirus strain were detected in Karnataka.

"Two people found positive for the Omicron variant of COVID-19. One person is about 66-years-old and a South African national, who has gone back. Another person is a 46-year-old doctor. He does not have any travel history," Karnataka health minister Dr K Sudhakar told media persons.

A new variant of COVID-19 was first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) from South Africa on November 25. As per the WHO, the first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on November 9 this year.On November 26, the WHO named the new variant detected in South Africa, as 'Omicron'.