Bengaluru, Jan 3 (IANS): Karnataka Minister for Health K. Sudhakar said on Monday that the tally of Omicron cases in the state has increased to 76 after 10 new cases were confirmed.

"10 new cases of Omicron have been confirmed in Karnataka on January 2nd taking the tally to 76. Bengaluru has reported 8 new cases of which 5 are international travellers. Two cases have been reported from Dharwad city in north Karnataka," he stated.

The authorities are concerned about a 22-year-old Bengaluru youth, who tested positive for Omicron as his travel history is unknown. State of vaccination is also unknown and he has not been responding to phone calls. The case has been reported to the police.

He was tested at a private lab on December 28, 2021. His results came on January 2. Since his contacts are unknown, the health department officials have also launched a hunt for him, according to the state health department statement.

Among the 76 patients, all three primary contacts of a 19-year-old male youth, who returned from the US, have tested positive for Covid-19. The patient is asymptomatic and kept under hospital isolation.

All primary and secondary contacts of a 46-year-old male who returned from Dubai have tested negative. A 49-year-old female who travelled from Dubai is symptomatic and test results of her 18 primary contacts are awaited.

A 13-year-old female, who was the primary contact of an international traveller patient, has also tested positive for Omicron. She is currently asymptomatic and under hospital isolation.

The 42-year-old female, a domestic traveller who came from Mumbai has tested positive for Omicron. Her two primary contacts and 14 secondary contacts have tested negative.

The 14-year-old school going girl from Dharwad, who came in contact with Covid patient, has tested positive for the Omicron variant. Her samples were collected from the Railway school. Her all three primary contacts have tested positive for Covid. As many as 395 secondary contacts have been tested and all of them have tested negative.

Four primary contacts out of five, who came in contact with a 53-year-old female from Dharwad, have tested positive for Covid. Her 395 secondary contacts have been tested negative for Covid-19.