A 34-year-old man from Bengaluru, who was the first person to recover from the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in Karnataka, on Thursday released a video sharing his experiences with the new variant. Reassuring people that the variant doesn’t have severe symptoms, he said he is “absolutely fine”.
“There is no reason to fear the Omicron variant. The symptoms are mild, and I have seen this in South Africa as well. There was no reason for any serious hospitalisation. Even for me, there was no need for hospitalisation. If we are careful, wear masks and take the vaccination, we will be fine,” he said in the short video.
“I was infected with Delta virus before and now I can share the experience of being afflicted with the Omicron variant,” he said in the video. “I was infected with coronavirus during the second wave. I had two doses of Covid vaccination. Despite this, I tested positive for the Omicron variant. I suffered much more when I was infected with Delta virus than the Omicron variant,” he said.
Karnataka reported the third case of the Omicron virus on Sunday.
The 34-year-old had arrived from South Africa on December 1. “I went to South Africa in the last week of November. I tested negative in RT-PCR tests at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIAL) in Bengaluru. But, on the third day of my isolation, itching in my throat and cough symptoms developed. I got the RT-PCR test done again at a private lab; the results confirmed the Covid-19 virus. Later, the samples were sent for genome sequencing by the civic agency, in which an Omicron variant was found,” he said in the video.
He said that since the information was available to him, he did not panic and as per protocol, he got admitted to the designated hospital. “I isolated myself on arrival from South Africa and my family members didn’t catch the virus. Those who come from abroad should maintain distance and follow quarantine guidelines. If symptoms crop up, without wasting time and negligence, they should get tested and inform health authorities. If this is done, we can prevent the infection from spreading to neighbours and people around,” he said in the video.
He was discharged from a designated hospital in Bengaluru on Tuesday, making him the first patient to recover from the Omicron variant in the state. Five primary contacts and 15 secondary contacts of the man were traced, and they all tested negative for Covid-19.
Explaining his time in hospital, he said the treatment given to him was similar to his first infection. “The symptoms of throat itching, cough and tiredness were more severe the first time. This time there was no necessity for additional treatment… There is no separate treatment as such for the Omicron variant. Vitamin-C tablets and antibiotics were given. Since there was no tiredness and symptoms were too mild, I worked from the hospital ward for a week,” he said.
Meanwhile, the 46-year-old government doctor, the second patient who had tested positive for Omicron without any travel history, has been discharged from hospital along with his family on Wednesday. They have been advised to home quarantine for a week.
The doctor, Karnataka’s second Omicron case, along with his wife and two daughters were under treatment for 14 days at the hospital. Doctors said he tested negative twice in a gap of 24 hours. He had developed secondary infections due to low immunity and had continued to test positive till recently.