Maharashtra reports 8 new Omicron cases, 7 from Mumbai

Mumbai, Dec 14: Maharashtra on Tuesday reported eight more cases of Omicron coronavirus variant with seven being reported from Mumbai and one from Vasai Virar. With this the state's total Omicron tally now stands at 28.

However, none of the patients have a history of international travel as per preliminary information.

As per the report given by the (Pune-based) National Institute of Virology today, 8 more patients were found to be infected with Omicron in the state.

Out of these, seven patients are from Mumbai and one patient is from Vasai-Virar (a satellite township of Mumbai), the health bulletin said. Seven of these eight persons were vaccinated against coronavirus and their swab samples were taken for testing in the first week of December, it said. All of them - five men and three women - are in the age group of 24 to 41, the department said. It said of the eight, three are asymptomatic, while five have mild symptoms of the viral infection.

According to preliminary information, none of them have a history of international travel, the bulletin said. The bulletin said one of those who have been infected with Omicron had travelled to Bengaluru, while the others had visited New Delhi. Out of the eight patients, two are in hospital and six are in home isolation and their close contacts are being tracked, it added.

Giving the break-up of 28 patients detected with Omicron so far, the bulletin said 12 are from Mumbai, 10 from Pimpri-Chinchwad (an industrial township in Pune district), two from Pune city, one each from Kalyan-Dombivali, Nagpur, Latur and Vasai-Virar.

Out of these, nine patients have been discharged after returning negative RT-PCR test, the health bulletin added. It said as many as 91,320 international travellers have arrived in Maharashtra through Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur airports in the recent days. Of these, 13,615 were from 'at-risk' countries.

The Omicron variant was first detected in India in Bengaluru with two people testing positive for it comprising a South African national of Indian origin and a doctor.

Cases of Omicron, which is categorised as a "variant of concern" by the World Health Organisation, have been detected in about 60 countries.