Maharashtra Reports 23 New Cases of Omicron

Maharashtra reported 23 new cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19 on Thursday, the highest so far. With the new cases, the state's tally of Omicron went up to 88, besides an increase in COVID-19 infections.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has called an emergency meeting to review the state government's preparedness to deal with the Omicron scare in Maharashtra.

"In view of rising numbers of COVID19 and Omicron cases, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will hold a meeting with the COVID-19 Task Force today at 10 pm via video conferencing," Public Relations Room (Chief Minister's Secretariat) said earlier today.

According to agency reports, of these 23 new cases, 13 have been reported in Pune, five have been reported in Mumbai, two in Osmanabad and one each in Thane, Nagpur and Mira districts.

Pune-based National Institute of Virology (NIV) reported 22 of these fresh Omicron cases in Maharashtra while one was reported by the National Chemical Laboratory, Pune. With the increase in Omicron cases across the country,

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also chaired a review meeting in New Delhi today evening amid the rise in cases of COVID-19. Earlier today, the Centre issued guidelines to states to ensure strict adherence to COVID-19 guidelines.

In an advisory, the Centre asked state and Union Territories to step up vaccination efforts and increase containment zones to arrest the spread of Omicron/ COVId-19.

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