Omicron detected in Mumbai's Dharavi, 17th case in Maharashtra

Mumbai: After a gap of four days, seven have tested positive for the COVID-19 variant Omicron in Maharashtra - including a resident of Mumbai's Dharavi area who recently returned from Tanzania, taking the state's total cases to 17, health officials said on Friday.

Along with the patient from Dharavi, two other cases were detected in Mumbai and four in Pune.

The cases confirmed in Mumbai are three males aged 25, 37 and 49 years, all with a recent travel history to the UK, South Africa and Tanzania.

The 49-year-old man from Dharavi, who is a 'Maulavi' (Muslim cleric), was asymptomatic and was isolated before he could mingle in the community, said a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official.

The man landed in Mumbai from Tanzania on December 4 and his samples were sent for genome sequencing when he tested positive for coronavirus.

Tanzania does not figure in the list of 'at-risk' countries, but the Dharavi resident tested positive for COVID-19 during the mandatory random checking of two per cent of arrivals at the Mumbai airport.

When his test came out positive, a medical team from G-North ward (where Dharavi falls) tracked him down immediately.

The man was shifted to BMC-run Seven Hills hospital, the official said, adding that he was asymptomatic and is not vaccinated.

Dharavi in central Mumbai is known as the biggest slum in Asia where over six lakh people live in a 2.5 square km area.

The area has recorded 7,073 coronavirus cases since March 2020, but there are only seven active cases at present, as per the BMC.

In Pune, the four new patients, including a three-and-half-year-old child, are the close contacts of the Indian-origin Nigerian woman who was detected Omicron positive last Sunday.

Of the new cases, 4 are fully vaccinated while one has taken a single jab, one has not been inoculated, and the child is not eligible for the vaccine.

Three of them are having mild symptoms and the others are found asymptomatic, but all have been isolated and undergoing treatment at various hospitals in Mumbai and Pune.

Surveillance at the international airports in Mumbai, Pune, and Nagpur has been further intensified with 9,678 passengers landing here from the "high risk" countries from the total 61,439 travellers.

From these, the samples of 25 found positive have been sent from genomic sequencing, including 20 from the "at risk" nations and five from other countries, said health officials.

A total of 89 samples have been sent for genomic sequencing of which results of 47 are awaited, and so far 17 have been found infected with Omicron.

Last week on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, a total of 10 Omicron cases were detected among passengers arriving in the state.