India's Omicron tally hits 1,700: A state-wise breakup

New Delhi, Jan 03: India saw a massive surge in Omicron cases as the country's overall tally for the highly transmissible strain has reached 1,700. Of these, the highest number of cases are in Maharashtra, Delhi and Kerala.

The variant of concern that was first detected in South Africa has now spread to 23 states in the country.

Maharashtra has the highest Omicron count with 510 cases, followed by Delhi with 351 cases. Kerala 156, while Gujarat and Tamil Nadu have reported 136 and 131 cases respectively. With 120 cases Rajasthan was also among the states with over 100 cases of the highly contagious variant.

Check state wise Omicron cases here

Experts opine that Omicron has started replacing Delta variant in the country in terms of the number of COVID-19 cases and positive international travellers are almost 80 per cent Omicron now.

Meanwhile on Sunday, Health Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya held a review meeting on the covid situation in the country and said that irrespective of the COVID variants, measures for preparedness and protection remain the same. He urged the states to re-invigorate their teams to work at the ground level and strengthen monitoring and containment mechanisms.

Test, Track, Treat, Vaccinate and COVID Appropriate Behaviour to be the mantra for our collective fight against Covid-19, he said.

The health ministry's war room is working 24x7 and analysing all trends and surges, and monitoring the nationwide situation. The ministry has advised states and UTs to enhance testing, strengthen hospital preparedness, increase the pace and coverage of vaccination drive and ensure strict enforcement of restrictions to counter the spread of infection wherever necessary.