Maharashtra sees first Omicron death amid huge surge in Covid-19 cases

Mumbai: Maharashtra on Thursday saw its first death of an Omicron patient, while it continued to report a massive spike in Covid-19 cases for the second consecutive day, leading to prohibitory orders clamped in Mumbai till January 7 and appeals to people to avoid New Year parties.

The state notched a staggering 198 new cases of Omicron, taking up the state tally from 252 to 450, with Mumbai accounting for the highest number, at 190, health officials said.

The others are from Thane (4), Pune (2) and Satara and Nanded (1 each).

Among the infectees, 30 have a history of recent foreign travel and the rest are their close contacts, and emerged from community surveillance.

A 52-year-old chronic diabetic man, who had recently arrived from Nigeria, passed away following a heart attack, at the Y.B. Chavan Hospital, in Pimpri Chinchwad (Pune) on Tuesday and his reports on Thursday confirmed he was afflicted by Omicrcon.

Meanwhile, intensive surveillance of passengers arriving at the three international airports - Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur - is currently underway since December 1.

A total of 29,096 travellers have landed here from the "at risk" countries of which 217 have tested positive and 94 from other countries, with all their reports sent for genomic sequencing to confirm if they are afflicted by Omicron.

Besides, 1,230 samples from field surveys conducted since November 1 have been sent for genomic sequencing with the results of 112 awaited, the officials said.

The current spread of Omicron is extensive across several districts in the state, with Mumbai accounting for the maximum 327 cases, followed by 56 in Pune, 29 in Thane, seven in Raigad, six each in Nagpur and Satara, five in Osmanabad, three each in Palghar and Nanded, two each in Buldhana and Aurangabad, and one each in Akola, Latur, Ahmednagar, and Kolhapur.

On the Covid-19 front, the state count also shot up significantly - from 3,900 to 5,368 now, and the fatalities increased from 20 on Wednesday to 22, with the mortality rate remaining steady at 2.12 per cent.

A total of 133,748 people are in home isolation and another 1,078 in institutional quarantine.

Mumbai, Pune and Thane are at the top with the highest number of active cases, which zoomed up from 14,065 on Wednesday to 18,217 on Thursday, with a recovery rate of 97.55 per cent.