India's Omicron Latest Tally: Count Surges Past 150, Maharashtra & Gujarat Detect New Cases Of Covid Variant

The cases of Omicron variant in India rose to 153 after Maharashtra and Gujarat detected new cases of the infection.

Representative Photo (Getty Images)

New Delhi: India's daily spike in Omicron cases has raised an alarm across the nation. The variant seems to be spreading rapidly in the country and has been detected in 11 states till now highest being in Maharashtra. The cases of Omicron variant in India rose to 153 on Sunday after Maharashtra reported six and Gujarat logged four more cases of the new variant of coronavirus, respectively.

According to central and state officials, omicron cases 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 persons tested positive for the variant in the state. According to a report by PTI, While two of these patients had a history of travel to Tanzania, two others had returned from England and one from the Middle East. All five of them are fully vaccinated.

In Pimpri Chinchwad township near Pune city, a 46-year-old man with travel history to the Middle East has been found infected with this 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 of Dubai travellers from Junnar, informed Maharashtra's health department.

"Total six cases were diagnosed today - four of them found during the airport screening in Mumbai. One of these four patients is from Mumbai, two from Karnataka and one from Aurangabad," the health statement said.

It is pertinent to note that out of 54 cases in the state, 22 have been found in Mumbai.

Gujarat

Gujarat also registered four new cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus on Monday. 

A 45-year-old NRI and a teenage boy who came from the UK, a Surat-based woman who had recently visited Dubai and a Tanzanian national are the new patients of the Omicron variant 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 the Ahmedabad international airport soon after he arrived from the UK on December 15

"The man's sample was later found infected with the Omicron variant," said Anand district health officer Dr M T Chhari to PTI.

He was scheduled to reach the state's Anand city from Ahmedabad.

"But, after he tested positive for the coronavirus, he was taken to the Ahmedabad civil hospital from the airport. The patient is currently recovering at the 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 Municipal Commissioner Dhaval Patel said.

The Tanzania national, who arrived at Ahmedabad via Zanzibar and Dar-es-Salaam, was found negative in the RT-PCR test carried out at the airport. However, when he was tested again upon reaching Rajkot, he was found positive on December 15, said Rajkot collector Arun Mahesh Babu.

"Genomic sequencing of his sample on Sunday confirmed him to be infected with the Omicron variant," he said.

The woman from Surat had gone to Dubai with her two sons and returned on December 5. On December 13, while on her way back to Dubai, she tested positive for COVID-19 in an RT-PCR test carried out at the Surat airport, health officials said.

All her contacts, including her son and daughter, have tested negative for the virus, the official said.

Omicron in India

On Saturday, Maharashtra had reported eight more cases, Telangana's tally jumped 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 in two educational institutions in Dakshina Kannada district, officials had said.

While Omicron was first reported in South Africa on November 24, India's first two cases of this heavily mutated version of the coronavirus were detected in Karnataka on December 2.