Gujarat logs two new cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19, tally reaches 7

Vadodara (Gujarat) [India], December 18 (ANI): Two new cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19 have been reported from Vadodara in Gujarat on Friday, taking the total number of patients in the state to seven.
Dr Devesh Patel, Medical officer of Vadodara Municipal Corporation said that both have returned from Zambia and are admitted to a private hospital.
Apart from Vadodara, the Omicron cases are in the Jamnagar, Surat and Mehsana districts of the state.
Last week, Gujarat reported its first case of new COVID 19 variant Omicron in Jamnagar, informed the state's health department.
Notably, the State have reported 60 new COVID-19 cases and one death during the 24-hours.
The State has a total of 581 active cases as on Friday.
Earlier on Friday, the Central Government had informed that a total of 101 cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19 so far have been detected across 11 States and Union Territories.
Addressing a press conference, Joint Secretary of Health Ministry, Lav Agarwal said that 32 cases were reported in Maharashtra, 22 in Delhi, 17 in Rajasthan, 8 each in Karnataka and Telangana, 5 each in Gujarat and Kerala, one each in Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal respectively.
He said that the Omicron variant has been found in 91 countries in the world.
A new variant of COVID-19 was first reported to the World Health Organisation (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'. (ANI)