Omicron cases steadily grow as 12 more test positive

New Delhi/Mumbai: Delhi has reported four more cases of Omicron while eight more persons have tested positive for the COVID-19 variant in Maharashtra on Tuesday, taking the tally in the country to 61.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said all the six people who have so far tested positive for the Omicron variant in the national capital had a history of travelling abroad.

“So far, six people have been found Omicron-positive in the capital. One of them has been discharged. All of them had travelled to foreign countries and were transferred to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) hospital from the (Indira Gandhi International) airport,” Jain told reporters. The condition of the remaining five Omicron-positive patients is stable, he said.

So far, Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases at 28, followed by Rajasthan at 17. Omicron cases have also been reported in Karnataka (3), Gujarat (4), Kerala (1) and Andhra Pradesh (1) and Union Territories of Delhi (6) and Chandigarh (1).

Eight new patients were found to be infected with Omicron in Maharashtra, the state health department said citing a report released on Tuesday by the Punebased National Institute of Virology. Seven of them were from Mumbai and one from its satellite township of Vasai-Virar, the department said, adding none of the eight had an international travel history. 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.

Under the Centre’s new norms, RT-PCR tests are mandatory for passengers arriving from the “at-risk” countries. Passengers coming from ‘at-risk’ countries to six major Indian airports have to compulsorily prebook for the on-arrival RTPCR test from December 20 onwards, the Civil Aviation Ministry said on Tuesday. –(PTI)