Shillong, Jan 5: Director of Health Services, Dr Aman War, has urged the people of the state to not panic as only one of the four Omicron positive patient is currently active while the other three have recovered.

Mentionably, 5 people tested positive for the Omicron variant of Covid-19 in the State on Tuesday, of which one was a tourist from Assam who was to visit Shillong. After the results came out, the tourist returned to Assam midway and the same was communicated to the Assam government as well.

Dr War said the lone active case is stable and without symptoms and under isolation.

“There is only one active case left which is infected with the Omicron variant. The particular case is in Laitumkhrah and is under strict isolation with no symptoms and the patient is doing very well,” he said.

He also clarified that the state had only 4 cases of Omicron and not 5 as informed earlier as one case had been transferred to Assam.

“As of now we have got four cases in the state infected with Omicron of which three have recovered (which include two from Saiden village in Ri Bhoi district and one from ARC Happy Valley, Shillong),” he said.

Dr War further added, “The two cases from Ri Bhoi district were COVID-19 positive and were isolated at home and in the course of that isolation their time period has been completed. Now they are well and have recovered and can go about their duties normally without forgetting to follow the precautions and the SOPs strictly.”

“The case (from) ARC, Happy Valley had also recovered. She had come from outside the country from Qatar and had tested positive on December 29 and genome sequencing was done and a report received on January 4 and she was found positive for the Omicron virus. This patient has also recovered. She was initially isolated at home and on her request she was shifted to one of the corona care centres and she will be discharged by tomorrow or day after tomorrow,” he informed.

Regarding the case of a tourist from Assam who had reportedly got infected with the Omicron virus, the DHS said that the patient was a 13-year-old boy who had reported at Umling on December 21, but has never stayed in Shillong.

“The samples were taken on December 21 and while he was proceeding towards Shillong awaiting the report halfway due to urgent work at home this particular person along with his parents had returned back on the same day without reaching Shillong,” he said while adding that “the place where they had booked for their stay in Shillong was at one of the guest houses at Langkyrding. This particular person along with his parent never stayed at Langkyrding since they returned back on the same day even before reaching Shillong.”

He further informed that genome sequencing was done for all positive cases from December 7 onwards and those coming from outside the country it was done on priority basis. He added that it normally takes 5-6 days and if done immediately it can be done in one day.

Stating that there will be many variants of Covid, he said that what is of utmost importance are the three principals – mask, social distancing and hand washing.

Appealing the public to adhere to the protocols, he said that if protocols are not followed it will only call for further strict restrictions if the situation demands.