Two new Omicron cases reported in Gujarat, state's total climbs to 3

Amid the rising fear of the new COVID-19 variant Omicron, two more people have now tested positive in Gujarat, Vijaykumar Kharadi, Municipal Commissioner said, on Friday. It was also revealed that the two people who tested positive for the new strain had come in contact with a traveler from Zimbabwe who had tested positive for Omicron earlier in December. 

Speaking about the two new cases, the Municipal Commissioner of Jamnagar civic body said, "In Jamnagar, two persons, who came in contact with an Omicron patient, tested positive for COVID-19. Their samples were sent for genome testing and the reports revealed that both of them are Omicron positive."

He also clarified that all three Omicron patients in Gujarat are asymptomatic.

Meanwhile, many cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 have been detected in the country with Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Delhi reporting new cases.

For the unversed, a new variant of COVID-19 was first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) from South Africa on November 25. As per the WHO, the first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on November 9 this year.

On November 26, the WHO named the new COVID-19 variant B.1.1.529, which has been detected in South Africa, as 'Omicron'. The WHO has classified Omicron as a 'variant of concern'.

In other news, India reported 8,503 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, 9.7 percent lower than yesterday. It brings the total caseload to 3,46,74,744. The top five states which have registered maximum cases are Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Karnataka.