The Omicron is believed to be containing more mutations than any other variant of coronavirus. It a also considered to be more resistant to vaccines. India has put in place several strict measures for international travellers to control the spread of the new strain.
The Omicron variant has been spreading fast in India. In the last one week, the number of people who contracted the new variant of the coronavirus rose to 21.
Seventeen new cases were detected on Sunday alone. Most of those who tested positive either recently arrived from African countries or were in contact with such people.
Several contacts of the new cases are under surveillance and have been isolated, said officials.
The central government has put in place strict travel restrictions on people arriving from abroad, especially from countries identified as ‘at risk’.
The emergence of the new strain of coronavirus has also dented India’s plans to restart international travel from December 15.
Here’s tracking the spread of the Omicron variant in India:
Reported on Sunday:
One case in New Delhi with travel history to Tanzania. The 37-year-old from Ranchi had travelled from Tanzania to Doha and from there to Delhi on a Qatar Airways flight on December 2. He stayed in Johannesburg, South Africa, for a week, news agency PTI reported. The person is fully vaccinated and is currently admitted to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital with mild symptoms, the agency further said in its report.
Nine cases in Jaipur. These include four members of a family who returned from South Africa recently. “Genome sequencing has confirmed that nine persons are infected with the omicron variant,” Rajasthan health secretary Vaibhav Galriya said.
Seven in Maharashtra. Of these, six of a family tested positive in Pimpri-Chinchwad (on the outskirts of Pune city). “A 44-year-old, woman, who is a Nigerian citizen of Indian origin, her daughters aged 18 and 12, her 45-year-old brother and his two daughters aged 7 and one-and-a-half years, have tested positive for the Omicron variant as per the report given by the Pune-based National Institute of Virology (NIV),” Maharashtra health department said in a statement. All of them returned from Nigeria last month. The seventh case – a man – had travelled to Finland last month
Detected earlier:
The country reported the first two cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 on Thursday in Karnataka – a 66-year-old South African flyer and a 46-year-old Bengaluru doctor with no travel history. Both men are fully vaccinated.
On Saturday, a 72-year-old NRI from Gujarat and a 33-year-old man from Maharashtra’s Thane tested positive for the new strain
