Nine-year-old girl who was hit first recovers

Mysore/Mysuru: An African student of the University of Mysore tested positive for the Omicron variant of COVID-19 yesterday.

This is the second case of Omicron in Mysuru and the first case is that of a nine-year-old child, who returned from an overseas trip a few days ago. The child has recovered now, much to the relief of parents. She has not shown any signs or symptoms so far, said health officers.

District Health Officer (DHO) K.H. Prasad told Star of Mysore that the 29-year-old student, who arrived from Tanzania to Hyderabad on Dec. 20, tested positive for Omicron. She is asymptomatic and isolated in an institutional facility.

“Her swab samples were collected at Hyderabad airport upon her arrival. Test results were sent to District authorities. We have collected her swab samples for second RT-PCR test yesterday and the student is under observation,” he added.

The student arrived in Mysuru from Hyderabad and was staying at the Women’s Hostel of Manasagangothri. “We immediately shifted her to the designated COVID facility and measures have been taken to contain the Omicron spread. The student’s contacts are being traced and all of them would be subjected to genome sequencing,” he said.

As the news spread that the student stayed at the hostel in Manasagangothri, panic spread among students and also health authorities. The Health Department has taken the issue seriously as hundreds of students are staying at the hostel and have accordingly taken precautions. There is no need for panic but students must exercise restraint. Students are being counselled in this regard, the DHO added.

Meanwhile, an architecture college yesterday suspended physical classes for two days till Thursday after three students tested positive for COVID-19. This decision has been taken to facilitate testing and the sanitising according to the protocol announced by State Government for educational institutions.