India's Omicron tally rises to 57 with 8 new cases reported in Maharashtra

New Delhi: Maharashtra on Tuesday logged eight more cases of the Omicron infection, taking the overall tally of the super mutated variant in the country to 57.

Out of the eight new cases, three are women and five are men. All are in the age group of 24 to 41 years. While three patients are symptomatic, rest are mild. According to the Maharashtra Government release, none of them have a history of international travel.

However, one had travelled to Bangalore and another to Delhi, officials told NDTV.

Out of these 8 patients, two are in hospital and 6 are at home in isolation. While seven were vaccinated, one was unvaccinated, the release said.

Maharashtra (28), Rajasthan (13), Karnataka (3), Gujarat (4), Kerala (1), and Andhra Pradesh (1) and Union Territories of Delhi (6) and Chandigarh (1) have reported the Omicron cases in the country so far.

Of the 28 cases in Maharashtra, 12 are from Mumbai, 10 from Pimpri Chinchwad, two from Pune Municipal Corporation, and one each from Kalyan Dombivali, Nagpur, Latur, and Vasai Virar.

Nine patients, infected with the "variant of concern" have been discharged after recovery in the past 24 hours, leaving 19 active cases.

Maharashtra, one of the worst-hit states by coronavirus since its outbreak last year, was one of the first states to announce fresh curbs to arrest the spread.

Earlier this month, Maharashtra had made institutional quarantine mandatory for all passengers from three "ultra-risk" nations - South Africa, Botswana, and Zimbabwe.

A total of 13,615 have reached here from the "high risk" countries of which 30 have tested positive and 8 from other countries, with all their reports sent for genomic sequencing to confirm if they are afflicted by Omicron, said the officials.

While there's no institutional quarantine for passengers from "at-risk" nations, they will have to undergo an RT-PCR test at the airport paid for by them, the new rules said.

Domestic passengers must provide proof of double vaccination or negative report of an RT-PCR test conducted within 72 hours of boarding the flight.