How missing Somalian who tested Omicron +ve at RGIA was tracked down

Hyderabad: Three cases of Omicron have been detected at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad. All three are international passengers who tested positive for Covid19 on December 12 and eventually for the Omicron variant on December 13.

Concern arose when one passenger who had traveled from Somalia was not traced even when the Director of Public Health G Srinivasa Rao was doing a press conference at 11 am on Wednesday. The 23-year-old man had traveled from Sharjah to Hyderabad.

Passengers arriving from 13 'at-risk' countries which have reported the Omicron variant of COVID-19 have to undergo RT-PCR tests at the RGIA. This is in addition to pre-departure COVID-19 testing undertaken 72 hours before their departure, while five percent of passengers arriving from other countries will be also randomly tested and they are allowed to leave. Two of the three cases of Omicron were from passengers coming in from countries not categorized as at risk.

So, the Somalian passenger left the airport after giving his samples on December 12. His samples had tested positive for Covid19 and Tuesday evening his samples tested positive for the Omicron variant.

After getting the Omicron positive result the health department alerted the police in early morning on Wednesday. Banjara Hills police station took the responsibility to trace the person in the city.

"We got some information about the person from the health department and we formed three-team led by myself, an Inspector, and a Sub Inspector. One team went to RGIA, another Shaikpet, and one Mehdipatnam. We started gathering small clues about him, how he looks his contacts, known person, and whereabouts of his friends. Finally, we traced him at Paramount Colony in Tolichowki area," said the P. Shiva Chandra, SHO, Banjara Hills Police Station.

One of the police officials also told the NewsMeter that the person was not even aware of his test result have turned positive for Omicron. The Somalian man was later handed over to Health Officials at around 1 pm and shifted to TIMS, Gachibowli.

At around 1:45 pm, the Director of Public Health informed the media that the missing Somalian with Omicron positive has been tracked and shifted to TIMS Gatchibowli. "We are in the process of identifying contact for further testing. All the foreign nationals residing in that area will be screened for Covid now," said Dr. G Srinivasa Rao.

After the incident, many of the residents of Paramount Colony are isolating themselves and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has carried out sanitization in the colony.

So far, three Omicron cases, including the Somalian, have been detected at Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. All three are international passengers who had tested positive for COVID-19 on 12 December and eventually for the Omicron variant on 14 December.