New Delhi: India has reported nine more cases of Omicron variant of Covid-19, taking the case tally to 32.
The Union government has warned people over the declining mask usage in the country. Moreover, it also stressed on the surveillance and monitoring of international travellers amid the Omicron scare.
As the highly infectious variant of concern has spread to 59 countries in less than a fortnight, India has initiated efforts to check efficacy of Covishield and Covaxin vaccines against Omicron. Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) director general Balram Bhargava said, ‘We have in India 25 cases of Omicron. We have got samples from these individuals at the National Institute of Virology in Pune. We are trying to grow the virus.’
Maharashtra reported seven new cases of Omicron, including a three-and-half-year-old girl, on Friday which took the tally of such infections to 17, the State Health department said.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said the man who returned from Tanzania was a resident of the densely-populated Dharavi slum area, but he was asymptomatic and isolated before he mingled in the community.