Maharashtra reports eight new Omicron infections, tally rises to 40

Mumbai, Dec 17: Maharashtra on Friday recorded eight new cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, taking the tally of such infections to 40, the state health department said. Earlier, the department had put the state's Omicron patient tally at 48, but a later release revised it to 40.

All eight patients are male, aged between 29 to 45 years, it said. Seven of them are asymptomatic while one has mild symptoms, the health department added.

“As per the report given by the National Institute of Virology today, eight more patients were found to be infected with Omicron in the state. Six patients are from Pune, one is from Mumbai and one from Kalyan Dombivli (near Mumbai),” it said.

According to preliminary information, four patients from Pune had travel history to Dubai and two were their contacts. The patient from Mumbai had travelled to the US and the one from Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation had travelled to Nigeria.

“Out of these eight patients, two are in hospital and six are in home isolation. The close contacts of these patients are being tracked. All patients had been vaccinated,” the release added. Of the 40 Omicron patients found in Maharashtra so far, 25 have been discharged after testing negative in subsequent RT-PCR tests.

The region-wise break-up of patients is as follows: Mumbai-14; Pimpri Chinchwad-10, Pune Rural - six, Pune city- two, Kalyan Dombivli - two, Osmanabad - two, Latur, Buldhana, Nagpur and Vasai-Virar one case each.