Gujarat’s first case of the BA.5 variant of Omicron has been detected in a 29-year-old man who arrived in Vadodara from South Africa in the first week of May, the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) said Tuesday.
On May 1, the man was tested for Covid-19 after exhibiting symptoms while visiting the city to meet his parents. His sample was sent for genome sequencing, according to health officials with the VMC. The man, however, returned to South Africa after testing negative for Covid-19 on May 9.
The report of the genome sequencing of his sample arrived on Tuesday and indicated that he was indeed carrying the BA.5 variant of Omicron.
Officials added that since the man had been in quarantine after his arrival, his close contacts have not shown symptoms or tested positive for Covid-19.
INSACOG, India’s Covid-19 genomic sequencing consortium, had earlier confirmed the first case of the BA.5 sub-variant of Omicron in the country in an 80-year-old man from Telangana who had no history of international travel.
Two cases of BA.4 were also confirmed by the consortium, one from Hyderabad and the other from Tamil Nadu.
During airport sampling, a South African traveller was found to have the Hyderabad case. The case from Tamil Nadu involved a 19-year-old woman who had no prior international travel experience.
The fifth wave of Covid-19 cases in South Africa was caused by Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5.
Since then, it has been discovered in several European countries as well as the United States.