All international passengers from affected nations are being tested, Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain informed on Monday.
"All international passengers from affected nations being tested. 27 have been brought to LNJP hospital so far, 17 of them tested positive and 10 are their close contacts. Genome sequencing of 12 out of 17 people done and 1 of them has been detected to have Omicron," Satyendar Jain was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
"The condition of the one who is Omicron positive is fine as of now. The report of his second test done for confirmation had also come positive," he added.
"All patients are stable, many do not even have symptoms. The rest of the report will come by tomorrow," he stated. "It is our endeavour to prevent the spread of Omicron in any way through those coming from the airport," he further stated.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain there is a need to stop international flights in view of rising cases of COVID-19 Omicroin variant. He alleged that similar negligence was seen in the second wave as well.
"The new variant is coming from abroad, there is a need to stop the flights coming from abroad, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has also made this appeal. The same negligence was seen during the last wave as well," said Jain in a press conference.
A 37-year-old man who arrived in Delhi from Tanzania has tested positive for Omicron, making it the first case of the new COVID-19 variant in the national capital.
India reported 17 more cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 on Sunday - nine persons in Rajasthan capital Jaipur, seven in Maharashtra's Pune district and a 37-year-old fully vaccinated man who arrived in Delhi from Tanzania - taking the tally to 21 in the country.
Most of those who tested positive either recently arrived from African countries or were in contact with such people. With this, four states and the national capital have now reported cases of the potentially more contagious variant which has sparked a fresh alert across the world.
(With inputs from ANI and PTI)
