India's Omicron tally rises to 33 after Delhi reports new case

With Delhi recording its second case of Omicron on Saturday, India has so far logged 33 cases of the new variant that has sparked fresh worry worldwide.

As per Delhi government sources, the person -- fully vaccinated, came from Zimbabwe and had travelled to South Africa.

"Second case of Omicron Variant reported in Delhi. The person was fully vaccinated and was coming from Zimbabwe. The person had also travelled to South Africa," news agency ANI reported on Saturday, citing an official of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government.

The patient is undergoing treatment at the LNJP Hospital and only has weakness, officials told news agency PTI.

So far, Omicron cases have been detected in Maharashtra, which has the highest number of patients, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Delhi.

With seven new patients detected on Friday, the number of Omicron cases has shot up to 17 in Maharashtra, or nearly half the known cases in the country.

States have been notified to increase their surveillance and actively test passengers arriving from other countries.

Meanwhile, the Centre said on Friday said it had been monitoring over 70 clusters of Covid-19 in India and has found that most cases belong to the Delta variant or sub-lineages of the coronavirus.

At a media briefing on India's Covid-19 situation, NITI Aayog member for Health and chief of India's Covid-19 task force Dr VK Paul said that there has been a decline in the use of masks to protect against the virus.

"From the point of view of protection capability, we are now operating at a risky and unacceptable level," Paul said. "The science community is still issuing warnings.... WHO [World Health Organization] is also warning that this is not the time to not wear masks. We have to remember that both vaccines and masks are important."

The UK, Denmark, and South Africa are the top three countries with the highest number of Omicron cases in the world.