Indian returnee with Omicron was vaccinated with Pfizer booster

A man who returned from the US has tested positive for the Omicron variant of the coronavirus even though he had taken three doses of the Pfizer vaccine, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said on Friday in a statement.

The Mumbai civic body said that the 29-year-old man was tested for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) at the city's airport on November 9. His results, subsequently, came back positive and after his samples were sent for genome sequencing, they confirmed the presence of the Omicron variant.

Although he tested positive, the patient remained asymptomatic and was currently showing no severe symptoms according to the BMC press release. He has been admitted to a hospital in Mumbai as a precautionary measure and contact-tracinf was initiated. However two of the highest-risk contacts he had been with tested negative for Covid-19 the statement said.

Mumbai currently has 14 Omicron cases, including this latest one and the total tally of Omicron cases in Maharashtra is 40 according to the BMC. However none of the patients have been exhibiting severe symptoms due to the mutated strain and 13 of those diagnosed in Mumbai had been discharged with no ill-effects.

The findings of breakthrough infections in those vaccinated is a worry for scientists and vaccine companies as Pfizer-BioNtech has already begun researching a vaccine tailored to suit the mutated SARS-Cov-2 variant. They expect to start a clinical trial for the updated vaccine in January, according to a Reuters report citing Pfizer executives familiar with the developments.

Omicron, while less severe than its predecessor, the Delta variant, is expected to be far more transmissible and able to cause infections in those who have already had a bout of Covid-19 or been vaccinated.