With new cases of Covid's Omicron variant being reported in Delhi and Rajasthan, the total count of cases of the new strain in the country has climbed to 49.
Earlier, a 42-year-old man from Gujarat who recently returned from South Africa tested positive for the Omicron variant of coronavirus.
The man had first tested negative for coronavirus when he arrived in Delhi from South Africa via Kenya and Abu Dhabi on December 3. In his second test on December 4 also, the man tested negative for Covid after which he was briefly hospitalised for isolation. He then tested positive for Covid- with Omicron variant- on December 8, authorities informed.
The man's sample has been sent for genome sequencing.
Currently, the man is under treatment in home isolation and all the relatives as well as his four co-passengers have tested negative for Covid.
Yesterday, Maharashtra also reported two new cases of Omicron variant, with both the patients having Dubai travel history.
Omicron, a new Covid variant said to be "highly transmissible", has now been reported in six states- Maharashtra (20), Rajasthan (9), Karnataka (3), Gujarat (4), Kerala (1) and Andhra Pradesh (1) and two union territories- Delhi (6) and Chandigarh (1). The government has warned against laxity in following Covid-related protocols, urging people to not delay vaccination.
India's Covid tally today rose to 3,47,06,344 with 5,784 people testing positive for the infection in a day, while the number of active cases declined to 88,993, the Union Health Ministry's data showed.
The Omicron variant, which was first detected in South Africa, has spread to several parts of the globe with one death being reported in UK where the variant is fast spreading. Authorities worldwide are racing to determine how contagious the variant is and how effective existing vaccines are against it.
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