Maharashtra reports four fresh cases of Omicron; state tally touches 32

Of the total cases detected so far, 25 patients have been discharged after testing negative for the virus.

Maharashtra on Wednesday detected four new cases of Omicron, taking the state's tally of infections from the new variant of Coronavirus to 32. A bulletin from the state health department said that while two cases were reported from Osmanabad district, one case each was from Mumbai and Buldhana.

Of the total cases detected so far, 25 patients have been discharged after testing negative for the virus. Representational image (Pavlo Gonchar/Zumapress/picture alliance )

Of the total cases detected so far, 25 patients have been discharged after testing negative for the virus.

On Tuesday, two more fully vaccinated people were found infected with Omicron, one from Latur and another from Pune, the state health department said, adding both the Omicron patients, including a woman, were asymptomatic and fully jabbed.

In Pune, a 39-year old woman was detected with the new variant, while in Latur, a 33-year-old male was found positive.

Both patients had travel history to Dubai and three of their close contacts were traced. All three of them tested negative for Covid-19.

Earlier in the day, a seven-year-old boy from Murshidabad district, who returned from abroad with his parents on December 10, became West Bengal’s first resident to test positive for the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. Telangana also reported its first two cases of the new variant.

Telangana director of health G Srinivasa Rao told reporters that two passengers – a 24-year-old woman from Kenya and a 23-year-old man from Somalia, who landed at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad -- tested positive for Covid-19 on their arrival on December 12.

So far, Omicron, a highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus, has been reported from eight states --- Maharashtra, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Telangana, and West Bengal --- and union territories of Delhi and Chandigarh.

The government has warned against laxity in following Covid-19 related protocols, urging people to not delay vaccination.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra’s overall active caseload touched 6,476 with 925 new cases of the virus being reported from the case. As many as 10 patients died of related complications.