New Delhi: The daily spike in Omicron cases in India has sounded the alarm bells and whistles across the country. The variant appears to be spreading rapidly across the country and has been detected in 11 states so far, with the highest being in Maharashtra. India’s Omicron variant cases jumped to 153 on Sunday after Maharashtra reported six and Gujarat recorded four more cases of the novel variant coronavirus, respectively.
According to central and state officials, cases of Omicron Cases in India have been detected in 11 states and union territories – Maharashtra (54), Delhi (22), Rajasthan (17) and Karnataka (14), Telangana (20), Gujarat (11), Kerala (11), Andhra Pradesh (1), Chandigarh (1), Tamil Nadu (1) and West Bengal (1) reported PTI.
Maharashtra
Maharashtra’s Omicron tally rose to 54 after six people tested positive for the variant in the state. According to a PTI report, while two of these patients had previously traveled to Tanzania, two more had returned from England and one from the Middle East. All five are fully vaccinated.
In Pimpri Chinchwad township, near the city of Pune, a 46-year-old man with a history of traveling to the Middle East was found to be infected with the strain. The patient has mild symptoms and is currently admitted to a private hospital. He is fully vaccinated.
Another patient is a five-year-old boy from Junnar in Pune who is a close contact with Dubai travelers from Junnar, the Maharashtra health service informed.
“A total of six cases have been diagnosed today – four of them were detected during the Mumbai airport screening. One of these four patients is from Mumbai, two from Karnataka and one from Aurangabad, “the health statement read.
It is relevant to note that out of 54 cases in the state, 22 were found in Mumbai.
Gujarat
Gujarat also recorded four new cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus on Monday.
A 45-year-old NRI and a teenager from the UK, a Surat-based woman who had recently visited Dubai and a Tanzanian national are the new Omicron variant patients in Gujarat.
According to the press release issued by the state health department, the non-resident Indian tested positive for Covid 19 in the RT-PCR test carried out at Ahmedabad International Airport shortly after arriving from the UK on December 15.
“The human sample was then found to be infected with the Omicron variant,” said Dr. M T Chhari, Anand District Health Officer at PTI.
He was to reach the city of Anand, in the state, from Ahmedabad.
“But, after testing positive for the coronavirus, he was taken to Ahmedabad Civil Hospital from the airport. The patient is currently recovering at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital,” Dr. Chhari said.
In a relief for the people of Gujarat for now, his co-passengers and other contacts have tested negative for the viral infection.
A 15-year-old boy from Gandhinagar was also detected with the Omicron variant after returning from the UK, Gandhinagar City Commissioner Dhaval Patel said.
The Tanzanian national, who arrived in Ahmedabad via Zanzibar and Dar-es-Salaam, tested negative in the RT-PCR test carried out at the airport. However, when he was tested again upon arrival in Rajkot, he was found positive on December 15, Rajkot collector Arun Mahesh Babu said.
“Genomic sequencing of his sample on Sunday confirmed that he was infected with the Omicron variant,” he said.
Surat’s wife had gone to Dubai with her two sons and returned on December 5. On December 13, while returning to Dubai, she tested positive for COVID-19 in an RT-PCR test performed at Surat airport, health officials said.
All of her contacts, including her son and daughter, have tested negative for the virus, the official said.
Omicron Cases in India
Maharashtra had reported eight more cases on Saturday, Telangana’s tally rose from eight to 20, while Karnataka and Kerala reported six and four cases, respectively.
Of the six cases reported in Karnataka on Saturday, one was a passenger from the UK, while five others were from COVID-19 clusters at two educational institutions in the Dakshina Kannada district, officials said.
While Omicron was first reported in South Africa on November 24, India’s first two cases of this highly mutated version of the coronavirus were detected in Karnataka on December 2.
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