A study by South African scientists reveal Omicron variant is three times more likely to cause reinfections compared to the Delta or Beta strains.
Karnataka reported the first two Omicron cases in India. Omicron is the new COVID-19 variant first detected in South Africa and said to be more transmissible because of its several mutations. Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar earlier told that two cases did not match Delta and the Centre was alerted accordingly.
One case was that of a 66-year-old South African national who came to Bengaluru on November 20 and tested positive. He left for Dubai on November 27. All his 24 primary contacts and 240 secondary contacts have tested negative.
The second confirmed case is of a 46-year-old doctor working at a government hospital, who has no travel history. He was tested on November 22 for the virus. His symptoms included extreme tiredness, weakness and fever. According to reports, his cycle threshold value was low and his sample was sent to the lab. Three of his primary and two of his secondary contacts have tested positive.
What are the symptoms?
There were no major symptoms in all the Omicron cases as of now unlike Delta where patients faced breathing problems.
Karnataka officials suspect there might be more cases of Omicron in the state as the doctor who tested positive has no travel history.
Experts have observed low CT value in cases where the person is tested positive for the new Omicron variant of COVID-19.
That is why samples of all international travellers testing positive with low CT value are being sent for genome sequencing.
The Omicron variant is three times more likely to cause reinfections compared to the Delta or Beta strains of the COVID-19 virus.
This was suggested in a preliminary study by South African scientists published Thursday based on data collected in the country.
The findings provide the first epidemiological evidence about Omicron's ability to evade immunity from prior infection.
There were 35,670 suspected reinfections among 2.8 million individuals with positive tests until November 27.
The South African scientists considered those cases as reinfections if they tested COVID-19 positive 90 days apart.
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