A passenger who landed in Gujarat's Jamnagar from South Africa tested positive for the Omicron COVID variant, according to the state health department.
The traveller, A 72-year-old man, came to Jamnagar from South Africa two days ago. After testing positive for the new COVID variant during screening at the airport, the authorities sent the person's sample for genome sequencing to a lab based in Pune, which disclosed that the person was infected with Omicron.
Also Read: Here's why experts don't think Omicron will impact India's aviation sector
Gujarat's Commissioner of Health Jai Prakash Shivhare confirmed the man was detected to be infected with the Omicron variant.
This is the third confirmed case of Omicron in India. Two cases of the new COVID variant were detected in Karnataka earlier.
The first infected person, a 66-year-old, landed in the state from South Africa on November 20 and left the country seven days later.
The second infected person is a healthcare worker who has no travel history, according to government sources.
The Omicron strain has been marked as a "variant of concern" by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Also Read: Omicron variant scare: 10 international passengers untraceable in Bengaluru