3 Omicron patients discharged in TN, active cases at 31

Three patients, who reported Omicron variant in Tamil Nadu have been discharged, bringing down the active cases in the State to 31.

Of the 34 cases who were declared positive in the State, the first patient who had travelled to Chennai from Nigeria and his two family members tested negative for the same and have been discharged on Thursday. The first case of an international passenger from Nigeria and two other contacts of him person had tested positive for Omicron and were being treated in King Institute, Guindy.

The Health Minister said that they did not report any severe symptoms and recovered successfully. "The other patients who have tested positive are also asymptomatic and we are hoping that they will be discharged soon. Other patients in Madurai are also recovering well and if tested negative, will be discharged soon," he said.

There are 20 Omicron cases currently being treated at King Institute after three of them have been discharged. "We have instructed all the international passengers to quarantine for at least 7 days and contract tracing of those testing positive for COVID-19 is to be done," he added.

All the samples were sent for whole genomic sequencing to National Institute of Virology after S-gene-drop was reported. Of 13 sample reports received on December 15th, one was Omicron, 8 were Delta and 4 were non-sequenced. Of the 60 sample reports that arrived on Wednesday, 30 are reported to have  Omicron variant, 26 are delta variant and 4 others are non-sequenced.