Only 30 patients are international travellers, which means the strain has begun spreading in Mumbai; result of genome testing today
A beneficiary gets a shot at Nair hospital on Thursday. Pic/Ashish Raje
With the detection of 190 new Omicron cases in Mumbai on Thursday, it is almost certain that the city is in the grip of the highly transmissible strain. BMC officials said they will wait for the result of the latest genome sequencing that is expected on Friday to make a conclusion.
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Up until Wednesday, 327 cases of Omicron had been detected in the city of which 26 patients were from other states. Thursday’s numbers were reported by the National Institute of Virology. Of them, only 30 are international travellers. Apart from Mumbai, Thane city had four cases.
“The surge in cases is possible to start of the third wave due to Omicron variant. Delta variant is here since the second wave and the cases were not rose even after opening up of the city in August and crowding in local trains and markets,” said a senior BMC official on the condition of anonymity.
“It is difficult to say whether the Omicron variant is responsible for the surge in Mumbai. Genome sequencing report of positive cases from December 21 will come by Friday, after which it will be clear whether this increased number of patients is due to Omicron or Delta or other variants,” said Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner. However, unconfirmed reports said the result was out and 141 (37%) of 375 samples were Omicron infections. None of these cases had any travel history.
Pradip Awate, the state surveillance officer, said that they will have to investigate each case before concluding Omicron’s role.
No lockdown for now
Despite the massive spike in daily cases, the state’s Covid task force, did not take a call on lockdown in the city on Thursday. Sources said the task force members and authorities focussed more on the standard operating procedures for positive individuals and vaccination of teenagers.
“The task force meeting reviewed the current situation. Various issues were discussed in the meeting. But any decision hasn’t been taken on imposing restrictions,” said Suresh Kakani, additional commissioner of the BMC. Authorities are now working towards immunising children between 15 and 18 who will be eligible for vaccines in the new year.
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No. of new Omicron cases found in city on Wednesday
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