Insight Bureau:  Amid the fear of new COVID variant ‘Omicron’, as many as 246 travellers who came to Odisha from ‘at risk countries’ after November 24 have tested Covid positive, informed Institute of Life Sciences (ILS) Director Ajay Parida today.

As per the State Health Department report, more than 800 NRIs have returned to Odisha from Omicron-hit countries, of them 40% travellers are yet to be traced.

It can be mentioned here that the RT-PCR samples of the 246 returnees were collected for genome sequencing to examine if they were infected with Omicron variant or not. The reports will come on Friday.

If the test report comes negative, the returnees will remain in a seven-day home quarantine and again undergo Covid-19 test.

So far, India has reported 21 cases of the Omicron variant which have been reported in Karnataka, Gujarat, Delhi and Rajasthan.