11 new Omicron cases in state take tally to 65

Of these 11 Omicron cases in state, four were detected at Mumbai airport surveillance screening, while one each was reported in Pimpri Chinchwad, Osmanabad and Navi Mumbai area

MUMBAI Maharashtra reported 11 new cases of Omicron on Tuesday, taking the state’s tally to 65.

Of the eight Omicron cases found at Mumbai airport, one each is from Kerala, Gujarat and Thane while the rest five are Mumbai residents (Anshuman Poyrekar)

Of these 11 cases, four were detected at Mumbai airport surveillance screening, while one each was reported in Pimpri Chinchwad, Osmanabad and Navi Mumbai area.

Of the eight people found at Mumbai airport, one each is from Kerala, Gujarat and Thane while the rest five are Mumbai residents. There are two children below the age of 18 years in this group. All the patients except the two children are vaccinated and either asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic.

34 infected patients have been discharged following negative RT-PCR tests.

State surveillance officer Dr Pradeep Awate said, “We are studying the Omicron cases in South Africa as well as in United Kingdom (UK) and reached the conclusion that the virus is less virulent in nature. Even here, a majority of the 65 cases detected are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic.”

According to a report issued by the state government, Mumbai now has the most number of Omicron cases in the state with 30 followed by Pimpri-Chinchwad with 12, Pune with 10. The rest of the cases are three each in Satara and Osmanabad, two in Kalyan-Dombivli and one each in Buldhana, Nagpur, Latur and Vasai-Virar.

Mumbai added 312 new Covid cases and one death, taking its tally to 7,67,553 and death toll to 16,366.

The weekly positivity rate of the Covid-19 cases of seven districts in Maharashtra is above the state average of 0.82 %. These include Pune (1.75%), Sangli (1.19%), Solapur (1.17%), Palghar (1.16%), Satara (1.13%), Nashik (1.06%) and Ahmednagar (1.03%).