Maha sees Omicron, Covid-19 cases zoom, with 20 deaths

Mumbai, Jan 4 : Maharashtra on Tuesday again notched a steep hike in Covid-19 cases and its variant Omicron infections with deaths also zooming, health officials said.

The developments came as Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar warned of a Mumbai lockdown if cases in the city touched 20,000 and the civic body, BMC implemented fresh quarantine rules.

For the 7th consecutive day, the state reported a massive spike in Covid-19 infections and suspect cases whose samples have been sent for genome sequencing.The state Covid-19 count shot up again - from 12,160 on Monday to 18,466 now - and fatalities also increased from 11 a day earlier to 20, while the mortality rate remained steady at 2.01 per cent.After recording 68 Omicron infections on Monday, the state logged 75 more cases of the variant, taking up the state tally from 510 to 633, with Mumbai again reporting the highest number of fresh cases.

Of the 75 cases, 40 are from Mumbai, 12 in Thane, 10 from Pune, five in Raigad, three each in Kolhapur and Nagpur, and one each from Satara and Amravati.Intensive surveillance of passengers arriving at the three international airports - Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur - is currently underway since December 1.A total of 33,402 travellers have landed here from the "high risk" countries of which 313 have tested positive and 250 from other countries, with all their reports sent for genomic sequencing to confirm if they are afflicted by Omicron.Besides, another 2,397 samples from field surveys conducted since November 1 have been sent for genomic sequencing with the results of 91 are awaited, the officials said.

Omicron has spread extensively spanning several districts in the state, with a whopping 653 cases recorded so far.Mumbai accounts for the maximum 408 cases, followed by 135 in Pune, 46 in Thane, 17 in Raigad, 13 in Nagpur, eight in Satara, five in Osmanabad, four each in Kolhapur and Palghar, three in Nanded, two each in Buldhana, Aurangabad, and Sangli, and one 1 each in Akola, Latur, Amravati, and Ahmednagar.Of the 18,466 new Covid-19 cases, Mumbai Metropolitan Region alone accounted for 15,663 infections, with Mumbai city shooting past the 10,000 mark with 10,606 new cases.

The next is Pune circles 1,783 infectees, Nashik circles 389, Nagpur circles 229, Kolhapur circles 168, Aurangabad circles 88, Latur circles 86 and Akola circles 60.The number of people sent to home quarantine also shot up, from 332,610 on Monday to 398,391 and another 1,110 have been shunted to institutional quarantine.Mumbai, Pune and Thane remain at the top with the highest number of active cases currently in the state, with the afflictions shooting up sharply from 52,422 on Monday to 66,308 now, with the recovery rate dropping from 97.05 a day earlier to 96.86 per cent.The states cumulative figures of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic stands at 67,30,494 cases and 141,573 deaths, while another 65,18,916 patients have fully recovered till date.

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