How A Dentist's Insistence On RTPCR Certificate Led To Discovery Of Omicron In Maharashtra

Remember Li Wenliang, a doctor from Wuhan, China, who in December 2019, long before COVID-19 was identified, warned about the spread of an undetected infection?

The ophthalmologist had noticed the spread of a 2003 SARS-like virus among his patients.

Though he was forced into silence, it is now widely accepted as the first time COVID-19 spread was noticed by authorities.

Now, a similar incident has come to light from Pimpri Chinchwad in Maharashtra, where a dentist's demand for an RT-PCR negative certificate to examine a patient led to the discovery of Omicron infections.

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The 12-year-old girl had returned to India from Nigeria on November 24 with her family.

After she developed a toothache, the family took her to a dentist in Pimpri Chinchwad, who demanded an RT-PCR negative certificate.

The girl who was asymptomatic turned out to be COVID-19 positive and in the subsequent genome sequencing, it was identified as a case of Omicron variant.

Four family members of the girl, who had earlier tested negative for COVID-19 during the test conducted on arrival were also re-examined and were found to be infected.

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Among those who tested positive for Omicron is an 18-month-old child.

¡°If an RT-PCR test reveals a Covid positive case, we visit the person¡¯s home. Depending on the symptoms, we tell the patient to opt for either home or institutional quarantine. In the girl¡¯s case, we conducted the RT-PCR tests of her close contacts. Five family members, including the two who had accompanied the girl from Nigeria to Pimpri Chinchwad via Mumbai, tested positive,¡± an official told The Times of India.

"Out of the six Omicron patients found earlier, four patients, including the one-and-a-half-year-old, have been discharged from the hospital after they tested negative during their repeat test," an official said on Saturday.

PTI

Maharashtra has so far reported 18 cases of the omicron variant out of which 9 have recovered.

As of Monday morning, India has confirmed 38 cases of the omicron variant.

Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Chandigarh reported their first Omicron case on Sunday, while Maharashtra and Karnataka each recorded one more case each.

A man who had arrived from South Africa became the third person to test positive for the COVID-19 variant in Karnataka, while a 40-year-old man tested positive after returning to Nagpur in Maharashtra from a West African country, taking the state's tally of Omicron cases to 18.

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