Omicron variant: Maharashtra, Rajasthan confirm new cases, total tally reaches 21 in India

Seven people in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, four foreign returnees and three of their relatives, were on Sunday reported to be infected with the new Covid-19 Omicron variant.

This takes the total number of Omicron virus cases in in India to 12, with 8 cases from Maharashtra alone.

Six out of the seven new cases are family members, wherein a 44-year-old woman, who had arrived from Lagos, Nigeria was visiting her brother in Pimpri-Chinchwad, near Pune.

She was accompanied by her two daughters. Along with the woman and her daughters, her brother, and his two daughters also tested positive for the new variant, according to news reports

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The seventh case is a man from Pune who returned from Finland and tested positive for the variant. The first case in Maharashtra was reported on December 4
.

A total of nine cases of Omicron variant has also been reported in Rajasthan's Jaipur so far, according to State Health Dept.

Meanwhile, Delhi has reported its first case of Omicron variant. A 37-year-old man who arrived in Delhi from Tanzania has tested positive for Omicron, making it the first case of the new Covid-19 variant in the national capital.

The patient, who has been admitted to Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital, has mild symptoms. He had taken both doses of the vaccine, news agency ANI quoted Dr Suresh Kumar, Medical Director of LNJP Hospital as saying.

• India