Six international passengers who arrived from 'at risk' countries have tested COVID-19 positive, the Maharashtra Health Department said on Wednesday .
Their test samples have been sent for genome sequencing and contact tracing for all six is underway, the Health Department said.
Four of the six have been traced to the Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivali and Meera-Bhayandar and Pune, while two have been traced to Pimpri-Chinchwad.
While no cases of Omicron have been reported so far in India, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Tuesday advised states not to let their guard down and keep a strict vigil on the international passengers coming to the country through various airports, ports and land border crossings
Amid concerns over the Omicron variant of coronavirus, Maharashtra has mandated seven-day institutional quarantine for travellers arriving in the state from 'at-risk' countries.
The State Disaster Management Authority on Tuesday night issued the guidelines, an official said.
The list of 'at-risk' countries is announced by the Union government.
According to an updated list, the countries designated as 'at-risk' are the European countries, the UK, South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel.
Such passengers will also undergo RT-PCR test on second, fourth and seventh day of the arrival, the authority said in its latest guidelines.
If a passenger is found to be positive, he or she will be shifted to a hospital.
In case the test is negative, the passenger will still have to undergo seven-day home quarantine.
Passengers from other than 'at-risk' countries will have to undergo compulsory RT-PCR test at the airport. Even if found negative, they will have to undergo 14-day home quarantine.
If found positive, the patient will be shifted to a hospital, the guidelines added.
(With agency inputs)
