Alarm in Karnataka as state reports 5 more Omicron cases, total jumps to 19

Amid rising concerns over Omicron cases in India, five more cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19 were reported in Karnataka on Sunday (December 19). With the addition of 5 new Omicron cases, the total tally of Omicron cases in Karnataka jumped to 19, Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said.

According to Dr Sudhakar, all five infected persons are between 19 and 82 years of age and the government authorities are trying to ascertain their travel history or contact with an international traveller of these infected persons.

Two cases of the Omicron variant were detected in Udupi, while one case each was reported in Mangaluru, Dharwad and Bhadravathi.

Five cases of Omicron have been confirmed on Dec 19th:
 Dharwad: 54 yr male
 Bhadravathi: 20 yr female
Udupi: 82 yr male and 73 yr female
 Mangaluru: 19 yr female#Omicronindia #Covid_19 @BSBommai

— Dr Sudhakar K (@mla_sudhakar) December 20, 2021

It is learnt that most of the patients are asymptomatic and are currently in self-isolation. All these infected persons are fully vaccinated.

It is to be noted that Omicron was first detected on November 24 in South Africa and in India the first two cases of Omicron were detected in Karnataka on December 2.