Seven new cases of the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 have been detected in Maharashtra and nine cases in Rajasthan on Sunday, taking the national tally to 21.

Rajasthan health secretary Vaibhav Galriya confirmed that nine people have tested positive for the new strain. They include four of a family who recently returned from South Africa and their five acquaintances.

As per reports, of the seven new cases in Maharashtra, one is from Pune and the rest are from the neighbouring Pimpri Chinchwad.

According to a press release issued by the public health department, a 44-year-old NRI woman, who had come from Lagos (Nigeria) on November 24 to meet her brother in Pimpri Chinchwad, her two daughters (18 and 12 years old), and the brother (45) and his two daughters (seven years old and 18 months old) tested positive for Omicron, as per a report from the National Institute of Virology in Pune. The Nigerian woman has mild symptoms and other five have no symptoms at all. All six are being treated at Jijamata Hospital in Pimpri Chinchwad.

The 47-year-old man from Pune who tested positive -- as reported by the National Chemical Laboratory -- had visited Finland from November 18 to 25. He complained of mild fever on November 29 and was subsequently tested. He is fully vaccinated (Covishield) and is completely stable without any symptoms.

Earlier on Sunday, A 37-year-old man who arrived in Delhi from Tanzania had tested positive for the new variant.

On Saturday, a 72-year-old NRI man from Gujarat and a 33-year-old man from Maharashtra tested positive for the new strain.

The country's first two cases of the Omicron variant were reported on Thursday in Karnataka -- a 66-year-old South African flyer and a 46-year-old Bengaluru doctor with no travel history. Both men are fully vaccinated.

As per the public health department release, a total of 28,221 international passengers arrived at the Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur airports on December 1. Of these, 4,901 were from "at-risk" countries. Nine samples have been sent for genome sequencing to check for Omicron, the report stated.

(Edited by : Vijay Anand)

First Published:Dec 5, 2021 6:54 PM IST