India's Omicron tally jumps to 143 after 4 states report sharpest spike: Key points

With 30 new Omicron cases being logged on Saturday, the overall tally for the new variant reached 143 in India . Omicron cases today were reported from Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala. This is the highest single-day rise for the Omicron variant in the country. On Friday, as many as 24 cases were reported.

Here is all that you need to know:

Telangana:

• The number of Omicron cases in Telangana rose to 20 with 12 more people testing positive for the new coronavirus variant on Saturday.
• Of the 12 new cases, two were passengers from countries declared "at risk" by the Centre, while 10 came from other nations, a state health department bulletin said.

Maharashtra: 

• As many as 8 more Omicron cases were detected from Maharashtra today, which have taken the state’s tally to 48.
• Four Omicron cases were reported from Mumbai, three from Satara and one case from Pune, the health department said.
• In Mumbai, three patients were residents of Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Jalgaon in Maharashtra, while one was a resident of the city.

Karnataka:

• Six new Omicron cases were reported from Karnataka pushing the state's tally to 14.
• 5 cases were found in educational institutions in Dakshina Kannada and another was an UK returnee.
• "Two cluster outbreaks of COVID have been reported from two educational institutions in Dakshina Kannada today: Cluster 1: 14 cases (of which 4 are Omicron). Cluster 2: 19 cases (1 is Omicron). A traveller from UK has also tested positive for Omicron," Karnataka health minister K Sudhakar said in a tweet.

Kerala: 

• With 4 new cases, Kerala's tally of Omicron cases rose to 11. Four fresh infections were detected from Thiruvananthapuram, Malappuram and from the Thrissur district
• "The 17-year-old patient in Thiruvananthapuram came from the UK while the 44-year-old reached the state from Tunisia in a chartered flight. The patient in Malappuram came from Tanzania while the Thrissur native came from Kenya," state health minister Veena George said in a release.

(With inputs from agencies)