- Sujal Pradhan, NET Correspondent, Sikkim
Amid the spurt in COVID-19 infections, the ‘Omicron’ scare has escalated tensions among medical fraternities of Sikkim. As per the state IEC Officer, Sonam Gyaltsen Bhutia, the state government is unaware if the ‘Omicron’ variant has set its foot into the tiny Himalayan state, “we are unaware if Omicron infections has set its foot into the state, as the reports of genome sequencing have not yet arrived which was sent to New Delhi so we cannot say whether it is Omicron or not but in earlier genome sequencing there were reports of Delta variant so we have to wait for report.”
“Even though reports for the same have not yet arrived but people arriving to hospitals with similar symptoms, such as – sore of throat, fever, headache and diarrhea in some cases so we are doubtful if the surge in cases is due to Omicron” – informed Bhutia.
Its worthy to note that Sikkim has recorded 368 COVID-19 infections, out of 1237 samples tested on Thursday. However, the positivity rate was reported to be 29.7%, informed the Health department.
The district-wise COVID-19 report was 243 in east district, 68 – west district, 50 & 7 cases in south district & north district respectively.
With 305 recoveries, there are now 2439 active Covid cases in Sikkim. Among them, 12 patients are showing moderate symptoms while 19 patients have reported severe symptoms.
Two more deaths were reported, one each at Sir Thutob Namgyal Memorial (STNM) Hospital and Singtam hospital. So far, eight Covid patients have passed away this month. The Covid death toll in Sikkim has reached 417, informed the Health department.
At present there are 113 Covid patients admitted in hospitals here. Among them, 18 patients are in the ICU, informed the Health department.
