Samples of woman arrived in Hyd from UK sent for genome sequencing

Hyderabad, Dec 2:  A 35-year-old woman who arrived in Hyderabad from the UK has tested positive for coronavirus, a senior official said on Thursday.

The woman has been isolated at Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences (TIMS) and her samples have been sent for whole genome sequencing to ascertain if she was infected by Omicron, the new variant of Covid-19.

Director of Public Health, Dr. G. Srinivasa Rao told reporters that the health condition of the woman is good and she does not have any symptoms.

This is the first Covid positive case among passengers from 'at risk' countries arriving in Hyderabad.

He said a total of 206 passengers arrived at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport by British Airways and 119 by Singapore Airlines on Wednesday. Except for the 35-year-old woman, all passengers tested negative.

She was shifted to TIMS, the government designated facility for isolating Covid-19 positive travellers arriving from 'at-risk' countries.

The Health Department has strengthened surveillance at Hyderabad Airport and is conducting Covid tests on all passengers coming from 12 'at-risk' countries.

They are European countries including the UK, South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel.

The passengers will have to wait at the Airport till they receive the results of Covid-19 tests.

As per the guidelines issued by the Centre, if the traveller is tested negative, they have to be home quarantined for seven days. They will be re-tested on the eighth day and if found negative, they will have to further self-monitor themselves for the next 7 days.

Those who test positive will be sent by special ambulances to TIMS. Two floors at TIMS building in Gachibowli have been kept for isolating such cases.

Their samples will be sent for genome sequencing and the results can be received in three days.