Hyderabad, Dec 15 :Two cases of Omicron, the new variant of COVID-19 have been detected in Telangana, Public Health Director Dr Srinivas Rao said here Today

The two patients were international passengers, who arrived at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Shamshabad near here from Kenya and Somalia on December 12 and tested positive for COVID and were later confirmed for the Omicron Variant after their samples were sent to the Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad for genome sequencing.

The woman arrived from Kenya is about 24-year-old while the other passenger is 23-year-old.

He said the woman, from Tolichowki, was shifted to Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (TIMS) in Gachibowli here for treatment.

Dr Rao said another person, also from Tolichowki in Mehdipatnam area who positive for the Omicron variant will be shifted to TIMS, in the next few hours.

We have collected samples of the two close contacts of the women and it will be sent for genome sequencing to ascertain whether Omicron variant is found in them, he added.(UNI)