In a sigh of relief to the people of Karnataka's Dharwad, the COVID-19 "variant of concern" Omicron was not found in the genome sequencing of all the 113 swab samples collected from SDM College of Medical Sciences and Hospital. The news also comes as a relief to the administrative and the health authorities of Dharwad as the district's Deputy Commissioner, Nitesh Patil, said that there is no need to worry about Omicron in this particular case.
As many as 306 students and some medical staff of the college were infected with COVID-19 last week. All infected students are undergoing treatment at their college hostels while the staff is being treated at their individual homes. Amongst those who tested positive for the Coronavirus, 6 displayed mild symptoms while the remaining were asymptomatic. Even those with mild symptoms have now recovered.
The district authorities had earlier said that the virus may have spread at the freshers' party that was organised on campus on November 17. Soon, on November 24, nearly 66 students tested positive. The days that followed went by in testing several individuals for COVID-19 — this was more than 4,000 people, including students, staff.
District Health Officer, Yashwant Madinkar, said that there was a plan to test all those who tested negative, along with those who tested positive, again after seven days. More tests are underway at SDM Hospital.