Chennai: Three international air travellers, including a child, who had arrived in Tamil Nadu from Singapore and the United Kingdom have tested positive for Covid-19 and the government ruled out social media reports claiming they were cases of Omicron but said tests only would conclude if they are infected with the latest variant of the coronavirus.
Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ma Subramanian said on Friday that a man who arrived at Tiruchirappalli from Singapore in the wee hours and the child who had come along with its family here from the UK have tested positive for Covid and regretted that there were claims in social media that both were infected with the Omicron variant.
"The passenger from Singapore arrived at Tiruchirappalli at 3.30 AM (on Friday). He tested positive and has been shifted to the local medical college where he has been quarantined. His sample will undergo genome sequencing and we have a facility here for this purpose. However, it will also be sent to a lab in Bengaluru and only after that result would we come to know if he is infected with Omicron," he said. "He is only Covid positive as of now," the minister said.
Without divulging much details about the second case, he said the child along with its family have been admitted to the King Institute here where the relevant tests are being conducted.
"Another individual from the United Kingdom who arrived in Chennai this morning has tested positive. Currently, the testing of their samples is going on. This morning we said two of the passengers have tested positive. Now it has gone up to three," he told reporters at The King Institute of Preventive Medicine and Research, Guindy in the evening.
The Minister along with the principal department health secretary J Radhakrishnan and senior health officials wearing a PPE kit inspected the a 200 bedded ward that has been exclusively set up at the King Institute of Preventive Medicine at Guindy in this connection. Both the United Kingdom and Singapore are "high risk" countries.
Subramanian said eight of the family members of the three who tested positive are admitted and they are being monitored at the hospital. He said those returning from "high risk" countries have been asked to stay in home quarantine for a week on their arrival.
After completing the one week quarantine, they should take up RT-PCR testing again and only after getting a negative report they would be asked to move around in public, he said.
Stating that vaccination is the only solution to safeguard oneself from the virus, he claimed in the United Kingdom people have received the third dose. "We suspect that the the two passengers who have tested Covid-19 positive from the United Kingdom might have contracted the 'Delta variant' of the virus." To a query, he said the passengers were currently "asymptomatic and safe". "Those who have not received one dose of vaccination should immediately get vaccinated," he said.
Refuting social media claims that both the cases were Omicron variants, Subramanian said "we will be transparent in announcing the results" as it would only help in creating more public awareness against the pandemic and urged social media users to be careful about opining on the "sensitive issue." The co-passengers seated in the front and rear rows of the flights in which these two travelled and the flight crew have also been tested, he said. India's first Covid Omicron cases were detected on Thursday, when two fliers from South Africa to Bengaluru tested positive for the new variant. Various restrictions and measures at the airports, including here, such as stringent surveillance and testing measures have been put in place by various state governments. Subramanian said the state government would hold its 13th Mega Covid Vaccination Drive on December 4 and appealed to those who are eligible to receive the second dose to make use of the opportunity.
"Currently we have 1.11 crore of doses as stock and there are 80 lakh people who need to receive their second dose of vaccination. We appeal to them to make use of the opportunity," he added.
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