After two cases of the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron, were reported from Karnataka, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that a detailed set of Standard Operating Procedures and guidelines will be announced after a meeting with experts today, December 3. "I am getting all the details from the lab. Once I get the details, contact tracing of all the people will start. That's why we have got an elaborate plan. New SOPs have to be formed which will be done after I have a meeting with experts at 1 pm," Bommai told the reporters in Delhi. "I have spoken to the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and he said he will come back to me with reports and some guidelines," he added.
The Centre, on December 2, had told the press that two people have tested positive for the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus in Karnataka. The two patients, both males, have been identified as being a 46-year-old male a 66-year-old. Omicron was first reported by South Africa on November 24. As per the World Health Organization, the first known confirmed B.1.1.529 (Omicron) infection was from a specimen collected on November 9 this year.
On November 26, the WHO classified Omicron as a 'variant of concern'. The news followed impositions of travel restrictions by several countries. Omicron has been confirmed in 30 countries up until now, and the Director-General of WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had earlier warned that the number of countries with Omicron was expected to rise.