Karnataka Tracing 10 Missing Passenger After Omicron Patient Escapes

Karnataka's Health Minister, K Sudhakar, stated that locating travellers from Africa who fled at the airport without being tested was a top concern.

The state administration claimed on Friday that one of the two men detected positive for Omicron in Karnataka "escaped" after obtaining a COVID negative certificate from a private lab. The authorities are looking for ten additional people who are said to have gone missing from the airport.

"By Friday night, all 10 people who have reportedly gone missing should be traced and they should be tested. Travelers will not be allowed to leave the airport until their report is out," after a top-level meeting on Omicron, Karnataka Revenue Minister R Ashok stated.

According to the minister, a 66-year-old South African national who was determined to be Omicron-infected "fled" Approximately 57 additional people who came at the same time will also be tested, even though all of their RT-PCR tests were negative when they arrived. The ten people listed as "missing" have turned off their phones and are unable to be reached.

"All will now be tested," the minister explained, "because one of them tested positive for Omicron even after showing a negative Covid test."

The man landed in South Africa on November 20 and flew to Dubai seven days later.

"We've lodged a complaint with the police and they will see what went wrong at the Shangri-La hotel, from where the person escaped," added the witness.

The individual booked into the hotel the day he arrived, was completely vaccinated and was discovered to be COVID-19 positive. He'd come with a COVID test result that was negative.

He was confirmed to be asymptomatic when a government doctor visited him at the hotel, and he was encouraged to self-isolate.

However, because he was from one of the "at-risk" countries, his samples were obtained again on November 22 and submitted for genome sequencing.

Twenty-four others who came into contact with him were tested, and all of them came back negative. The authorities also tested 240 secondary contacts, or those who had come into contact with the patent's primary contacts, and discovered that they were also negative.

On November 23, the guy went to a private lab for a second test, which came back negative.

He checked out of the hotel at about midnight on November 27, took a cab to the airport, and caught a flight to Dubai.

When Omicron had already departed, he was confirmed.

Karnataka's Health Minister, K Sudhakar, stated that identifying the people from Africa who fled from the airport without being tested was a top priority. "In the past, our police department has done a good job of tracking down those who have escaped. And our police demonstrate their efficiency and will track them all. But I urge the passengers to act responsibly and with social concern," Dr Sudhakar said.