Two new cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus were detected in Maharashtra's Aurangabad on Saturday, according to the findings of the National Institute of Virology, Pune. With this, the total number of Omicron cases in the state has jumped to 110.
Of the two cases reported today, one is a 50-year-old and the other is 33-year-old. One has history of travel to Dubai while another one is a contact of a international passenger. Both are fully vaccinated. One patient is asymptomatic while another has only mild symptoms, the Public Health Department said in a bulletin.
Of the 110 cases in Maharashtra, 46 are from Mumbai, 19 from Pimpri-Chinchwad, 15 are from Pune rural, seven from Pune Municipal Corporation, five from Satara, five from Osmanabad, two from Kalyan-Dombivali, two from Nagpur, two from Aurangabad and one each from Latur, Vasai-Virar, Navi Mumbai, Thane Municipal Corporation, Mira- Bhayandar and Ahmednagar.
Out of the 110, 57 patients have been discharged following a negative RT-PCR test.
Meanwhile, to gauge the spread of the new Omicron variant across Mumbai and Pune, which are most affected, a community surveillance will be soon started by the Maharashtra Government. This comes after the Central government directed the state government to understand the spread of the virus in these two cities. Health officials said they have been asked to conduct community surveillance of all positive cases in Mumbai and Pune following which they will be coming up with new strategies to handle the third wave of Covid-19.
