- NET Web Desk
While the state along with the rest of the country is trying hard to contain the coronavirus and its new variant Omicron, a total of five passengers from Europe and Saudi Arabia were tested positive for Covid-19 in Assam in the last 24 hours.
According to a senior official of the state health department, four of them reached Silchar airport on December 6 (Monday), whereas one landed in Guwahati on Tuesday night.
As per latest COVID-19 protocols, the samples of all five positive patients are being sent for genome sequencing to Kolkata to confirm the variant present, as the spread of Omicron has rung alarm bells across the country. Despite being asymptomatic, the travelers were hospitalized in the best available health facilities and are being monitored.
Reportedly, the international traveler, who tested positive in Silchar, came from Finland, whereas the other three are from Karimganj district in the Barak Valley.
Sources further confirmed that, they returned from Saudi Arabia and were in home isolation when the RT-PCR report came on Tuesday. The positive case from Silchar has been brought to the Silchar Medical College Hospital, while the other three have been sent to the government civil hospital in Karimganj.
A health official said, “RT-PCR reports of the four passengers were received by the health department the next day. We have also done contact tracing of the three in Karimganj but fortunately the virus did not spread. All five samples are in the process of being sent to a laboratory in Kolkata on Wednesday itself for confirmation if Omicron is present in their samples.”
Meanwhile, the passenger who arrived at the Guwahati airport on Tuesday night, came from the UK in November. After staying in Amritsar for a while, she came to Guwahati. The 34-year-old female traveled to Guwahati via Patna. She has been admitted to the Gauhati Medical College Hospital (GMCH) where she also tested positive in the RT-PCR test.
