21 fresh Omicron cases recorded in Rajasthan, state's tally now 43

Maharashtra has recorded a maximum of 108 Omicron cases in India, followed by Delhi at 79. Gujarat and Rajasthan are next in the list with both the states having 43 cases of the new strain.

The Omicron variant of coronavirus has been spreading fast in India. On Saturday, Rajasthan reported 21 cases of the new strain, a huge spike which took the Omicron tally in the state to 43.

Since being detected in South Africa on November 24, Omicron has spread to more than 100 countries. In India, it has infected over 400 people. (PTI Photo)

Of these, 11 are from Jaipur, six from Ajmer and three from Udaipur. One of the patients is from Maharashtra.

The presence of Omicron was confirmed came after samples of people reporting Covid-like symptoms were sent to National Institute of Virology in Pune, Rajasthan’s health department said on Saturday.

Among these infected, five had returned from foreign countries while three others had come in contact with foreign travellers.

Giving the breakout of the Omicron cases in Rajasthan, the health department said that 28 are from Jaipur, seven from Ajmer, four from Sikar and three from Udaipur. Then there is one patient from Maharashtra.

India has so far recorded more than 400 cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, out of which 115 have recovered or migrated, according to the Union Health Ministry's data updated on Saturday.

Maharashtra has recorded a maximum of 108 Omicron cases, followed by Delhi at 79. Gujarat and Rajasthan are next in the list with both the states having 43 cases of the new strain.

Telangana has 38 Omicron cases, while Kerala has 37, Tamil Nadu 34 and Karnataka 31.

India's Covid tally rose to 3,47,79,815 with 7,189 fresh cases in the last 24 hours, while the active cases have declined to 77,032, according to health ministry update at 8am.

The death toll climbed to 4,79,520 with 387 more fatalities, the data showed.