Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials are conducting contact tracing of medical professionals who attended an international conference here on November 20 in an attempt to track the source of a new Covid variant Omicron in a 46-year-old Bengaluru doctor, who had no travel history.
Officials have been unable to identify the source of the new variant in the patient, who has no history of international travel. The doctor had attended an international conference in Bengaluru the day before he tested positive for Covid-19.
The Indian College of Cardiology’s 28th annual conference was held in a hotel in Bengaluru, and it was attended by about 60 medical professionals, including the infected person. According to the event organisers, all participants were from Bengaluru, and all international participants joined the conference via video conferencing.
So far, three people who attended the event, including the doctor, have tested positive for Covid-19. “We are currently tracking all participants and their contacts to see if anyone has come into contact with the virus,” BBMP Special Commissioner (Health) KV Trilok Chandra told the Hindustan Times.
He said more than a 100 people, including hotel employees, were tested, adding that the contract tracing process will be continued. “As previously stated, in order to identify the source of the variant in patient number two, we will trace his contacts for as long as necessary,” he said in the report.
A doctor who attended the conference mentioned that the doctor (the Omicron patient) tested positive for the new variant only a day after the event. “Because the virus has a 5-10 day incubation period, it is possible that he contracted the virus prior to the event. As for the event, we took all precautions, including wearing masks,” HT quoted the doctor as saying, who did not want to be identified.
On November 21, the doctor, an anesthesiologist, reported mild symptoms and was tested. His sample was sent for genome sequencing because his report had a low CT value, indicating a very high viral load, and Omicron was confirmed. The doctor was vaccinated against Covid in February, and his antibody levels were low, according to reports. This was discovered during an antibody test at the hospital where he works.
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