India Detected Omicron 2 Days Before Announced, No Community Transmission Yet: Top K'taka Virologist

India detected the first cases of Omicron variant two days before the official announcement, top virologist and nodal officer for genomic confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 in Karnataka has told News18.com.

To double check the findings — that the state spotted a new variant of novel coronavirus labelled as “variant if concern” by the World Health Organisation (WHO) — the reports were sent to the Centre.

“Once the reports were verified by all experts at state and central level, the announcement was made. Karnataka had detected a new variant on November 30 and the announcement came on December 2,” Dr V Ravi, who also heads the state’s Genomic Surveillance Committee, told News18.com. “States aren’t allowed to make such announcements considering the sensitive nature of the issue.”

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had on December 2 announced the detection of the country’s first two cases of Omicron variant in Karnataka following which Maharashtra and Gujarat also reported the presence of the new variant on December 4.

“Karnataka was the first state to detect Alpha strain and now Omicron. We have been on the top of genomic sequencing surveillance, so far. By the time the Centre announced the presence of the Omicron variant, all public health actions had taken place, including tracking and tracing,” Ravi said.

‘Too Soon to Declare Community Transmissiong’

The Centre on Thursday said that the state has detected two cases, of which one is a 46-year old male with no travel history. However, Dr Ravi denied the chances of possible community transmission.

“During the first wave, we had found a cluster of cases in a pharma company where the index patient never met or went anywhere possible to catch an infection but came in contact with a foreigner one month ago who visited their factory,” Ravi said.

Similarly, in this case, the male has no travel history nor did he meet any potential infector. “He might have caught it through secondary or tertiary contact of any foreigner,” he said, adding that “it’s not possible to join all the dots in public health.”

“We can call community transmission if we find Omicron-positive people in clusters but with just one odd case, it will be too soon to label it as community transmission.”

The Cost of Genome Sequencing

The samples of all close contacts of both patients have been sent for testing, Ravi said. “However, I would like to clarify that genome sequencing is not a rapid test. The report generated takes anywhere around three to seven days. The run time of the machine is around 12 to 24 hours.”

“The test generates humongous data that is interpreted by experts. It manually needs to be rechecked and verified with the data available for the new variant. If a minimum of 96 samples are loaded in the machine, the cost per test is around Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000, whereas if 12 samples are loaded, the cost comes to Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000,” the virologist said.

‘Control Political, Religious Congregations’

Dr Ravi also emphasised on the need to control “political and religious congregations”, adding that following Covid-appropriate behaviour is the only way forward in preventing a third Covid-19 wave in India.

“One of the major congregations, I believe, during the second wave was several religious and political crowds. We need to be very careful now with the advent of Omicron, especially when the New Year is approaching followed by elections in several states in coming months.”

Karnataka, in total, has 10 laboratories to conduct genome sequencing, the most crucial tool for the detection of a mutated virus. Of the 10, four are central laboratories and six are established by the state itself. However, state laboratories are likely to get operational by January 1.

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