With the fresh cases, which included three women, the tally of those infected with the newly discovered variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19, rose to 28 in the state, the health department said in a bulletin. “As per the report given by the (Pune-based) National Institute of Virology today, 8 more patients were found to be infected with Omicron in the state. Out of these, seven patients are from Mumbai and one patient is from Vasai-Virar (a satellite township of Mumbai),” the health bulletin said.

Seven of these eight persons were vaccinated against coronavirus and their swab samples were taken for testing in the first week of December, it said. All of them - five men and three women - are in the age group of 24 to 41, the department said. It said of the eight, three are asymptomatic, while five have mild symptoms of the viral infection. “According to preliminary information, none of them have a history of international travel,” the bulletin said.

The bulletin said one of those who have been infected with Omicron had travelled to Bengaluru, while the others had visited New Delhi. Out of the eight patients, two are in hospital and six are in home isolation and their close contacts are being tracked, it added.

Giving the break-up of 28 patients detected with Omicron so far, the bulletin said 12 are from Mumbai, 10 from Pimpri-Chinchwad (an industrial township in Pune district), two from Pune city, one each from Kalyan-Dombivali, Nagpur, Latur and Vasai-Virar. “Out of these, nine patients have been discharged after returning negative RT-PCR test,” the health bulletin added.

It said as many as 91,320 international travellers have arrived in Maharashtra through Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur airports in the recent days. Of these, 13,615 were from 'at-risk' countries. The emergence of Omicron, classified as a 'variant of concern' by the WHO, has caused alarm among scientists and governments across the world.?

-With PTI Inputs