Omicron: India reports 5 new cases; tally rises to 38

New Delhi: India reported five new Omicron cases on Sunday, taking the tally of the cases of the new variant in the country to 38.

A UK returnee who arrived in Kerala has tested positive for Omicron, making it the first case of the new variant in the state.

The concerned person had returned from the UK on December 6 after making a stopover in Abu Dhabi. He had tested positive on December 8. “An Omicron case has been reported in Kerala. A UK returnee from Ernakulam is the one who tested positive. He arrived via Abu Dhabi. He tested negative in the initial test and positive in a test done on December 8,” Health Minister Veena George said.

Nagpur in Maharashtra reported its first Omicron case on Sunday with a 40-year-old man testing positive for this variant of coronavirus after returning from a African country, an official said. With this, the state’s tally of Omicron cases has gone up to 18. Nagpur Municipal Corporation commissioner Radhakrishnan B said, “The man, a local resident, came from a country in West Africa around eight days back. On his arrival, he tested positive for COVID-19. After that his sample was sent for genome sequencing. The report confirmed that he is infected with the Omicron variant.”

A 34-year old traveller, who came from Ireland, tested positive for Covid-19 with the latest strain Omicron, the first such case detected in Andhra, the state Health Department said. The person, who first landed in Mumbai, was tested and found negative for Covid-19 “On conducting a second RT-PCR test, he tested positive for Covid-19. His sample was then sent for genome sequencing and the result was Omicron positive,” the Public Health Director said. —(PTI)