Bihar reported its first omicron case, adding to the existing worry over the third wave of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic and prompting chief minister Nitish Kumar to convene an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the ramifications of the discovery.
The 26-year-old man infected with omicron is a resident of Patna and has been isolated.
The state health department has started tracing the people with whom he recently came into contact.
He had gone to Delhi earlier this month to receive his brother who had flown from another country but was found to be omicron positive and quarantined there.
The youth came back to Patna and was found Covid-19 positive. His samples were sent for genome sequencing to the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Delhi on December 21. The report came on Thursday.
“One case (of omicron) has come so far. I have called a meeting in the evening to assess the situation,” Nitish told reporters on Friday.
“We have to stay alert. All preparations are being made to tackle the situation. We have to send samples for genome sequencing to Delhi because of which the reports take some time to come. We will also discuss if we can make arrangements for genome sequencing here so that reports come immediately without causing any delay,” Nitish added.
The chief minister pointed out that the number of Covid-19 cases in the state were very low till 10 days ago but was on an upswing now.
“Some people come from outside and those who come in contact with them get infected. So we will have to remain alert. We are conducting a large number of Covid-19 tests,” Nitish said.
On whether the schools will be closed, Nitish said: “The situation is not that bad in Bihar right now. We will decide at today’s meeting when to make the next assessment and take suitable decisions accordingly.”
Bihar reported 132 new cases on Thursday, taking the number of active cases to 333.
Officially, around 7.27 lakh people in the state contracted Covid-19 and 12,096 lost their lives. However, various assessments and surveys by non-government agencies indicate that the pandemic may have killed around 2.5 lakh people in the state.
