Suspected Omicron Covid-19 variant cases have been detected in Goa in tourists from Russia who came to the state via Delhi, said Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday.
Genome sequencing reports of all the patients are awaited.
“We have suspected Omicron cases who are Russia returnees to Goa via Delhi. We cannot call them Omicron cases directly. Their reports are awaited and all of them are in isolation," said Sawant.
“A panic situation should be avoided. I urge people to get vaccinated," he added.
India currently has 23 confirmed cases of the Omicron variant. Two fully vaccinated persons who returned from abroad last month had tested positive in Mumbai for the strain on Monday.
Prior to this, the country had detected 17 cases of the Omicron variant on Sunday – nine persons in Rajasthan capital Jaipur, seven in Maharashtra's Pune district and a fully vaccinated man who arrived in Delhi from Tanzania.
The first two Omicron cases in India were reported in Karnataka last Thursday, where a 66-year-old South African flyer and a 46-year-old Bengaluru doctor with no travel history had tested positive.
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.
A new variant of Covid-19 was first reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO) from South Africa on 25 November. As per the WHO, the first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on 9 November this year.
On 26 November, the WHO named the new Covid-19 variant B.1.1.529 as 'Omicron'. The WHO has classified Omicron as a 'variant of concern'.
To deal with this, several countries have imposed travel restrictions and local lockdowns.
India has added several countries to the “at-risk" list from where travellers would need to follow additional measures on arrival in the country, including post-arrival testing for infection.
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