Sahil Thakur was taken to the government-run Lok Nayak Jai Prakash hospital in Delhi
Sahil Thakur, 27, panicked when he was told that he had caught the Omicron variant of Covid.
The young businessman, double-vaccinated, had travelled to Dubai on business on November 20. When he returned on December 4, he tested negative in Dubai but at the Delhi airport, he turned out positive.
Though he went into home isolation for Covid, he was stunned when he was informed, two days later, that he was a patient of Omicron - the new strain that the world is talking about and dreading.
"I was shocked - how could I be Omicron positive? I said - please check again. I don't have a single symptom," Sahil Thakur, who has recovered from Omicron, told NDTV.
Overnight, he said, four guards were positioned outside his house in north Delhi.
"It was a stressful experience. Even now, four guards are posted day and night. To ensure house arrest for me and my family. Then they sent an ambulance, I was transferred to a hospital."
Sahil was taken to the government-run Lok Nayak Jai Prakash hospital.
"I had no sore throat, not a single day of fever... I couldn't even tell I had Covid. But I was quarantined. There were 40 patients at the hospital and 30-35 of them had no symptoms. We were all wondering what we are doing in hospital...," Sahil shared.
Doctors are still assessing the impact of the new variant, which was detected in South Africa last month. So far, experts say Omicron is more infectious but milder than the Delta, which drove the deadly second wave in April-May. The number of cases of the fast-spreading Omicron has crossed the 200-mark in India. Out of them, 77 patients have recovered.
Yesterday, the government said Omicron is spreading three times faster than Delta and urged states to set up war rooms and order night curfews if needed.
Worldwide, Omicron is spreading like wildfire and driving new restrictions in various countries. There has been a sharp rise in cases and hospitalisations in London and the US.
The World Health Organization has warned that the Omicron variant is causing infections in people already vaccinated or those who have recovered from Covid.