'Not 1 out of 100 travellers back from countries of concern tests +ve for Covid'

Not a single traveller arriving in Mumbai from the ldquocountries of concernrdquo since November 12 has tested Covidpositive though the BMC has collected their samples for another round of RTPCR tests said officials on Monday In the case of a Covidpositive Dombivli man who came from Omicronhit South Africa the genome sequencing report will come after about 5 daysThe reports of the 100 city residents are expected tomorrow said officials The ldquocountries of concernrdquo include South Africa Zimbabwe Botswana Mozambique and a few Middle Eastern and European nations With the world in the grip of Omicron fear the civic body is on its toes to trace passengers and their highrisk contacts in the past 20 days which also saw 466 flyers who are residents of Maharashtra landing at Mumbai airportA BMC worker collects a sample of a train traveller at LTT Kurla on Monday PicSayyed Sameer AbediConsidering the present state of affairs authorities have decided to stick to their earlier plan of reopening inperson classes for primary students from December 1 Currently all passengers arriving from ldquocountries of concernrdquo are required to undergo RTPCR tests at the airport If they test positive they will be quarantined institutionally and their samples will be sent to the genomic sequencing labldquoTill now there isnrsquot any instruction from the Central or state government to quarantine passengers if they are found negative Besides we contacted all 100 passengers and they are asymptomatic and have negative test results Most of the passengers have completed 14 days so there is less concern but for precautionary measures swabs were collected for RTPCR and we are expecting the results on Wednesdayrdquo said Suresh Kakani additional municipal commissioner ldquoFor the passengers found positive through RTPCR we will conduct an S gene test which detects infections other than known variants of Covid Then the samples will go for genome sequencingrdquo said Kakani KDMC isolates 32yearold manA BMC official said that the KalyanDombivali Municipal Corporation will trace the passengers who travelled with a 32yearold man from Dombivli that arrived in Mumbai from South Africa via Delhi He tested positive and has been isolated by KDMC The genome sequencing of his sample will be done at BMCrsquos lab at Kasturba Hospital ldquoWe currently have 200 samples With a few more samples the test will start on Tuesday and it takes 5 to 6 days to complete it So by this weekend the result will be outrdquo said KakaniAbout school opening a BMC official said ldquoTill now there isnrsquot any new decision and instruction from the state government Schools will reopen as scheduled earlier There is no need to panic and cases are under controlrdquo Meanwhile Guardian Minister Aaditya Thackeray met BMC officials and asked them to remain alert ldquoMumbairsquos 1st dose is 10037 complete and 7237 for 2nd dose We would be requesting the Union Govt to reduce the gap between 2 doses without altering our vaccine delivery schedule so that we can complete 10037 of 2nd dose for Mumbai by mid January Vaccines and Masks are extremely crucial for Covid appropriate behaviourrdquo he wrote on social mediaVaccination BMC targets establishmentsAfter its initiative to give the lsquofully vaccinatedrsquo tag to societies the BMC will start a campaign for lsquofully vaccinated establishmentsrsquo under which an organisation must ensure that all its employees permanent and temporary are fully vaccinated It will be applicable to government and private setups including hospitals malls and restaurants ldquoWe will provide them with the nearest vaccination centres if they want to vaccinate employees It will also be applicable for employees coming from outside Mumbairdquo said a BMC official466No of fliers who landed at city airport from atrisk nations since November 12