Medical staff among 39 found with S-gene drop

Medical staff among 39 found with S-gene drop

Health workers at RGGGH had contracted Covid-19 from a patient

Published: 26th December 2021 05:45 AM 

A woman being questioned by health workers at the Corona outpatient ward of the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai on Saturday | R Satish Babu

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Several doctors and medical staff have tested positive for Covid-19 after they contracted the infection from a patient who underwent a surgery at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) recently, Health Minister Ma Subramanian said on Saturday.

After the patient tested positive, 3,038 contacts were traced and screened. Of the 54 samples that tested positive for Covid, 39 specimens, including those of a few healthcare workers, showed S-gene drop, indicating possible Omicron infection. The samples have now been sent for genome sequencing to the National Institute of Virology (NIV). The health minister further said none of the patients have major symptoms.

Till date, 12 patients who were affected with Omicron have been discharged. Seven of them are from Chennai. The health minister said it is compulsory for all international passengers to be quarantined for seven days as the Omicron variant has a high transmission rate.

He further highlighted that the 16th mega vaccination camp will be held on Sunday. According to the Public Health Department, though TN’s vaccination coverage for the first dose is 84.8 per cent, and for the second dose is 55.8 per cent, the coverage among people above the age of 60 is 59 per cent for the first dose and 42 per cent for the second dose.

As per the evidence available, two doses of vaccination offer protection from death and severe illness even if there is an immune escape. As of now, TN has about 80.57 lakh vaccine doses, of which 50.68 lakh are Covishield and 29.88 lakh are Covaxin.