Omicron patient in Mumbai was unvaccinated, mild symptoms reported

A patient diagnosed with "variant of concern" Omicron in Mumbai's Kalyan-Dombivali COVID Care Centre was unvaccinated due to being at sea for months on end, according to a report from PTI. The Maharashtra native, who is a marine engineer, had tested positive for Covid-19 after landing in Mumbai on November 24 and is the fourth confirmed case of Omicron variant in India.

However, he is experiencing very mild symptoms under care, the report said.

Twelve of the passenger's high-risk contacts and 23 low-risk contacts have been traced and all have tested negative for COVID-19. Additionally, 25 of his co-passengers from the Delhi-Mumbai flight have also tested negative. More contacts are currently being traced.

Another passenger who had arrived in Maharashtra from Zambia has tested negative for Omicron, but positive for a strain of the Delta variant of Covid-19 the Maharashtra government announced.

The third case of Omicron in India was reported from Jamnagar in Gujarat, where a 72 year-old patient has been put under quarantine after travelling in from Zimbabwe. Two cases in India are of a 46-year-old fully vaccinated doctor from Bengaluru, who had no travel history and developed symptoms of fever and body ache, and a 66-year-old South African national who came to India with a negative COVID-19 report.

The Omicron variant has elicited concerns for it's extremely high number of mutations which researchers suspect could mean increased transmissibility, although the lethality and severity of symptoms are as of yet, unconfirmed. South African doctors have reported that the symptoms of the disease are mild.