India's Omicron tally touches 38

New Delhi: India on Sunday reported five fresh cases of Omicron variant of Cocvid-19 in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Chandigarh, Nagpur and Kerala, taking the overall tally of the new Covid 'variant of concern' to 38.

Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Chandigarh reported their first cases of the corona variant after one each in Karnataka and Nagpur city in Maharashtra reported the new cases in the morning.

A 34-year old foreign traveller, who came from Ireland, tested positive for the latest strain of the Covid-19 variant in Andhra Pradesh, the state Health Department said earlier in day confirming the first Omicron case in the Telugu state.

The person, who first landed in Mumbai, was tested and found negative for Covid-19. He was then allowed to travel onward to Visakhapatnam on November 27. "On conducting a second RT-PCR test in Vizianagaram, he tested positive for Covid-19. His sample was then sent to the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad for genome sequencing and the result came out as Omicron positive," the Public Health Director said in a statement.

A 20-year-old man from Italy was diagnosed with Omicron in Chandigarh, the first case of the coronavirus variant in the union territory. The man was visiting his relatives in India. He touched down on November 22, and his results came positive on December 1.

In Nagpur, the first case is of a 40-year-old man, the city Municipal Commissioner told the media.

Karnataka on Sunday detected its third Omicron case. This time it is a 34-year-old South Africa-returnee. "A 34-year-old male returning from South Africa has tested positive (for Omicron). He is isolated and being treated in a government hospital," State Health and Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar said. The minister added that five primary and 15 secondary contacts have already been identified so far. "Samples have been collected from all contacts and sent for testing," he said.

Kerala reported the first case of the variant after a UK returnee tested positive for the new variant of Covid-19. Talking to newspersons, state Health Minister Veena Gorge confirmed the first Omicron case in the State. All the passengers in the flight reached Kochi on December six via Abu Dhabi were asked to take utmost care and precautionary measures, she added.