India added Ghana and Tanzania to the list of “at risk” countries, passengers from where have to follow additional Covid-19 testing and quarantine measures. The list now comprises countries in Europe, including the UK, and South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China, Ghana, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tanzania and Israel.
Two cases of Covid-19 Omicron variant was reported in Mumbai on Monday, taking India’s total tally of the new coronavirus variant to 23. The first two cases were reported in Karnataka, followed by one in Gujarat and another in Maharashtra. Later on Sunday, seven cases were reported in Maharashtra’s Pune district, of which six belonged to the same family.
India recorded 6,822 new covid-19 cases and 200 deaths on Tuesday. This is also the lowest single-day spike in over 18 months. Active cases stand at 95,014, the lowest in 554 days and over 10,000 people recovered on Monday.
In Jaipur, four members of a family and five others have tested positive for the new variant, an official said on Sunday. Health secretary Vaibhav Galriya said the genome sequencing of their swab samples confirmed it. He said the family members had recently returned from South Africa. In Pune, seven persons, including a non-resident Indian (NRI) woman and her two daughters from Nigeria, have tested positive for the Omicron variant, taking the Maharashtra’s tally of those found infected with this strain to eight.
The woman and her daughters had arrived in the state on November 24 to meet her brother living in Pimpri Chinchwad area near Pune city. Apart from them, her brother and his two minor daughters have also tested positive for the new variant, it said. Earlier, 37-year-old fully vaccinated man who arrived in Delhi from Tanzania tested positive for Omicron, making it the first case of the new Covid-19 variant in the national capital.
India's first Omicron patients
India’s first two Omicron-infected Covid-19 patients have been detected in Karnataka, with one of them a 66 year old who travelled from South Africa and the other a Bengaluru-based 46 year old anaesthetist, the health ministry said. Both Omicron patients showed mild symptoms. The two Omicron patients showed only mild symptoms. Both were double-vaccinated.
