Maharashtra recorded eight more Omicron cases on Friday, taking the total number of the new Covid-19 variant cases in the state to 40.
A report released by the Pune-based National Institute of Virology (NIV) said that of the eight news cases, six cases were from Pune, while one case each from Mumbai and the twin townships of Dombivli- Kalyan in the neighbouring Thane district.
Of the total 40 Omicron cases recorded so far, Mumbai accounted for 14, followed by Pimpri-Chinchwad where 10 cases have been found. There are in all six cases in Pune (rural), where there are two cases each Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), while Kalyan-Dombivali and Osmanabad have recorded two cases each. Latur, Buldhana, Nagpuir and Vasai-Virar have registered one case each.
The swab samples of all those eight persons who have tested positive for Omicron were taken in the first week of December. “All eight patients are men. They are aged between 29 and 45 years. While seven patients were asymptomatic, the remaining one showed symptoms of Omicron,” a state public department bulletin said.
According to preliminary information, four patients from Pune have a history of travel to Dubai, while two are their contacts. One patient from Mumbai had travelled to USA and the other patient from KDMC had travelled to Nigeria.
Of the infected patients two are in hospital while six are at home in isolation. “The close contacts of these patients are being tracked. All patients have been vaccinated,” the health bulletin said.
Meanwhile, the authorities said the total number of passengers who arrived at Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur airports since December 1 was 1,14,446 (16,617 from At-risk countries and rest 97,829 from other countries), while passengers whose RT-PC tests have been done are 19165 (16,617 from high-risk countries and 2548 were other countries). Similarly, RT-PCR positive and samples sent for genomic sequencing was 81.