At 135, biggest one-day rise in Omicron cases

At 135, biggest one-day rise in Omicron cases

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

28.12.2021

India’s Omicron tally went well past the 600-mark after registering the highest single-day count of 135 cases on Monday even as the highly infectious variant of coronavirus spread to two new states, Goa and Manipur, thereby affecting a total of 20 states and Union territories.

In Goa, an eight-year-old boy who arrived in the coastal state along with his father from the UK about 11 days ago was found to be infected with Omicron. In Manipur, a 48-year-old man who returned to Imphal West district from Tanzania recently tested positive for the virus.

Delhi recorded 63 fresh cases, the highest to be recorded in a day by any state in the country so far, taking its total tally to 142, second only to Maharashtra which has 167 cases, including 26 detected on Monday. Delhi and Maharashtra alone account for 46% of the total 671 infections. Gujarat is the third worst-affected state with 73 cases followed by Kerala, which has 57 cases.

Dr Suresh Kumar, medical director of Delhi’s LNJP hospital, which is the capital’s largest facility for treatment for Covid-19 patients, said that 85-90% of the patients are asymptomatic while others have very mild symptoms. In Maharashtra, 11 of the 26 fresh cases are from Mumbai. Other states which confirmed new Omicron cases on Monday were Gujarat (24 infections), Telangana (12), Uttarakhand (3), Rajasthan (3) and Haryana (2).