Uttar Pradesh detects first two Omicron cases in the state, authorities put on high alert

The new Omicron variant of COVID-19 has spread to the northern state of Uttar Pradesh which reported its first case on Friday night after genome sequencing confirmed it.

The patients, a man and a woman in their 60s from Ghaziabad were confirmed to have been infected by the Omicron variant.

Both the patients, who returned from Maharashtra on November 29 are asymptomatic and are under home isolation. They were found to be COVID-19 positive on December 2. The authorities in Uttar Pradesh have been put on high alert following the new development.

The new cases have come to the forefront at a time when India’s Omicron count crossed the 100 mark. The Modi government has advised people to avoid non-essential travel and mass gatherings and keep New Year celebrations a low-key affair.

Meanwhile, Kerala, Maharashtra and Karnataka have reported fresh Omicron cases on Friday. Maharashtra reported eight new cases of Omicron on Friday. Of these fresh cases, six of them are from Pune, taking their overall tally to 40. Two of the Omicron infected people are in hospital and six are kept in home isolation. The close contacts of these patients are being tracked.

The health department also confirmed that all new patients infected with Omicron have been vaccinated,

In Gujarat, an elderly couple, a 75-year-old man and his 67-year-old wife from Vadodara were tested positive for the new Omicron variant on Friday, days after their return from Zambia in Africa on December 7. With this, Gujarat’s Omicron tally has reached 7. Three patients have been discharged from the hospital.

Kerala on Friday recorded two fresh cases of Omicron, taking the overall tally to seven. The new variant of the virus was detected in an elderly couple who arrived in Kochi from the UAE. The 68-year-old man and his 67-year-old wife had arrived by a flight from Sharjah on December 8.