Rajasthan on Sunday reported nine cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus, taking the national tally of infections due to the strain to 21. Four members of a family, who recently returned from South Africa, and their five acquaintances have tested positive for the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in the state’s capital Jaipur, Health Secretary Vaibhav Galriya said. He said the family of four has already been admitted to the Rajasthan University of Health Sciences (RUHS) Hospital in Pratap Nagar. Five acquaintances, who came in contact with them, are also being admitted to the hospital.

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Galriya said samples of 34 people were collected out of which these nine tested positive for the Omicron variant. The remaining 25 people were negative, he added.

He said a family from Ajitgarh in Sikar district had also come in contact with the family that returned from South Africa but the department traced the eight members and all of them tested negative for coronavirus.

The officer said contact tracing is being carried out on a large scale.

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Maharashtra and Delhi Sunday reported seven and one cases of Omicron respectively. Karnataka has reported two Omicron cases, while Gujarat has confirmed one infection due to the variant. 

Maharashtra’s Omicron case tally reached eight after four persons who returned from foreign tours and three of their close contacts tested positive for the variant in Pune district.

First detected in South Africa last month, Omicron has been listed as a variant of concern by the World Health Organisation (WHO).  A high number of mutations make Omicron potentially more transmissible and immune to protection offered against coronavirus by vaccines or previous infections, the global health body says. 

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Besides India, Omicron cases have been detected in 37 countries so far without any reported deaths. 

India has imposed travel restrictions from “at-risk” countries  including from European nations, as well as South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Brazil, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel.