Maharashtra on Saturday reported 8 more cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, taking its overall tally to 48 of which 28 have been discharged, the state health department said.
According to the National Institute of Virology, out of the total eight Omicron cases, four have been reported from Mumbai, three from Satara and one from the Pune Municipal Corporation.
According to reports, a couple and their 13-year-old daughter have tested positive for the Omicron variant of coronavirus after returning to Satara in western Maharashtra from Uganda.
Their other daughter, who is five years old, tested positive for COVID-19 but not for the variant. All four returned to Phaltan in Satara district from the African country on December 9, state health department officials said.
Owing to the Omicron scare, district officials traced them and asked them to undergo RT-PCR tests. The husband (35), wife (33) and their elder daughter (13) tested positive for COVID-19 while the report of the younger child was inconclusive, so the samples of all four were sent to the National Institute of Virology for genome sequencing, said Civil Surgeon Dr Subhash Chavan.
"We received the genome sequencing reports today. The couple and the elder daughter have been diagnosed with the Omicron variant, while the younger daughter has tested positive for COVID-19," a statement from the Satara district administration said.
All four have been kept in isolation at a sub- district level hospital and their health is fine, the statement added.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra today reported 854 new Covid-19 cases, 804 recoveries and 11 deaths today. The state currently has 6,942 active cases of coronavirus.
