Madhya Pradesh reports first Omicron cases, Odisha adds 4 more to its tally

Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Mishra said on Sunday 8 cases of the Omicron variant, mostly in the young, were found in Indore city.

Madhya Pradesh on Sunday reported its first eight cases of Omicron and in Odisha four more people tested positive for the fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus, taking the country tally to 434, officials said.

Madhya Pradesh and Odisha together reported 12 cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.  (HT File Photo/Representative Image)

Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Mishra said on Sunday 8 cases of the Omicron variant, mostly in the young, were found in Indore city.

"Eight Omicron cases have been found in Indore. Out of these patients, six have recovered and have been discharged while two are undergoing treatment,” Mishra, who is also the state government's spokesperson, told reporters.

The minister said around 3,000 people recently returned to Indore from abroad and 26 of them were found to be infected with the coronavirus. "Omicron was confirmed in the genome sequencing of eight of these people," he said.

News agency PTI reported citing officials the samples of these people, who returned to the state's industrial hub Indore from different countries, were taken between December 17 and 21.

The infected included two men aged 20 and 30 years, who came from New York in the United States on December 14 and 19, respectively, and a 23-year-old woman who arrived from London on December 14, according to these officials.

They also include two women aged 33 and 26 who returned from Tanzania in east Africa on December 19, a 33-year-old woman who came from Ghana in west Africa on December 17, and two men aged 26 and 31 years, who arrived from Dubai on December 13 and 18 respectively, they added.

In Odisha, which has already reported four Omicron cases, four more people who returned to the state from foreign countries were found to be infected with the variant of the coronavirus.

Odisha reported the first cases of Omicron on December 21 after two people who travelled from Nigeria and Qatar, were found to be infected. Two more cases of Omicron were found as two people, who came back from Nigeria, tested positive on December 23.

Director of Health Service (DHS) Bijay Mohapatra told PTI the two of the new patients returned from Nigeria and the other two came back from the UAE. Mohapatra also said the conditions of all the four is stable.

He added all foreign returnees from "at-risk" as well as other countries are being tested, and the samples of those found positive for Covid-19 are being sent for genome sequencing.