Seven more Omicron cases found in India, tally now 12

Seven more people have tested positive for the Omcron variant of COVID-19 in Pune, Maharashtra.

A 44-year-old woman from Lagos, Nigeria, who came to visit her brother on November 24, 2021, in Pimpri-Chinchwad, along with her two daughters, has been found to be infected with the new variant by the National Institute of Virology in Pune. Her 45-year-old brother and his two-and-a-half-year-old and seven-year-old daughters were also found to be infected with Omicron. Additionally, a 47-year-old man also tested positive for the variant in Pune.

With this, Maharashtra’s Omicron tally has gone up to eight and India’s to 12. Delhi on Sunday reported its first case of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

India saw a single-day rise of 2,796 fatalities on Sunday with Bihar carrying out a reconciliation exercise of its COVID data, pushing the country’s death toll to 4,73,326, while 8,895 new infections were reported. India’s total tally has increased to 3,46,33,255, according to the data updated at 8 am.

The Centre had ramped up surveillance and asked states to keep track of international travellers landing at ‘ports of entry’ in their jurisdiction. The government issued fresh directive after 10 South African nationals went untraceable after landing at the Bengaluru airport between November 12 and 22 before the strict rules for travelers at the city airport kicked in.

The airport and Health authorities had requested the police to help trace the passengers.

As on December 3, 57 persons from ‘at-risk’ countries had landed in Bengaluru. India had put 11 countries in its ‘at-risk’ list – United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Israel – where Omicron has been detected.

The Centre had stated on December 4 that the strategy would hinge on strict compliance with anti-COVID measures.

The Federal had reported that over 18 countries had reported the occurrence of the variant. In all, 215 genomic samples have been submitted to the GISAID database, of which 147 are from South Africa and Botswana. The GISAID is a Germany-headquartered global initiative that aims to promote the rapid sharing of data from all influenza viruses including COVID.