Omicron Spreads Further In India As 2 More States Report Cases Of New Variant

Shimla: India’s Omicron tally rose to 435 on Sunday as the new variant of the coronavirus was reported from two new states.

With the first cases of the highly-transmissible variant being reported from Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, Omicron has now spread to 19 states and union territories.

As many as eight COVID-positive people were confirmed to have contracted the Omicron strain in MP, six of whom have recovered. As for Himachal, one person tested positive for the new variant.

According to the Himachal Pradesh Health department, Omicron was found in a female traveller who recently flew in from Canada a few days ago. Her latest RT-PCR has come negative, but her contacts are being traced to ensure the infectious virus doesn’t transmit.

Earlier today, Odisha reported four Omicron-positive cases, all foreign returnees — two from Nigeria and two from the UAE.

Maharashtra continues to lead with 108 Omicron infections, followed by Delhi (79), Gujarat (43), Telangana (41), Kerala (38), Tamil Nadu (34), Karnataka (31) and Rajasthan (22).

The other states/UTs to have reported Omicron cases are – Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh, Ladakh, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.