Mumbai Dec 30 PTI As many as 141 Mumbai residents who had not traveled abroad recently tested positive for the Omicron variant of coronavirus on Thursday the civic body saidOut of 153 persons who were found to have Omicron infection in the city during the day only 12 had international travel history said the Brihanmumbai Municipal CorporationBut as per the Maharashtra governments release issued earlier in the evening out of 198 Omicron cases reported in the state a whopping 190 were from Mumbai The difference in state and BMC statistics could not be reconciledAs per the BMC update the tally of Omicron-infected Mumbai residents without history of overseas travel rose to 160 The total of Omicron cases in the city rose to 290Of 141 Mumbai residents without travel history who tested positive to Omicron the highest 21 are from the K-west ward which includes Andheri West Juhu and Versova followed by D ward that includes Malabar Hill Mahalaxmi and Tardeo areasAdditional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani told PTI that the BMC would be sending 375 more samples for genome sequencing on Friday to check if there has been community spread of the Omicron variantThe report was expected in five to six days he saidCommunity spread can be confirmed only after the report arrives Kakani addedAccording to BMC out of 141 Omicron positive persons who had no travel history 93 were fully vaccinated and three had taken one dose of coronavirus vaccineAs many as 95 of them are asymptomatic seven have moderate symptoms and 39 have mild symptomsOnly seven patients who are moderately symptomatic have been hospitalized but they are not on oxygen a late night BMC release stated PTI KK KRK KRK

Mumbai Nov 30 PTI At least 1000 travellers landed in Mumbai in the last fortnight from African countries where the potentially more transmissible Omicron variant of coronavirus has been detected a senior official of the city civic body said Swab samples were collected of at least 100 travellers out of the 466 whose list was received so far Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporations BMC Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani told PTI on Monday The World Health Organisation WHO on Monday warned that the global risk from the Omicron variant is very high based on early evidence saying the mutated coronavirus could lead to surges with severe consequences The UN health agency in a technical paper issued to member states said considerable uncertainties remain about the variant that was first detected days ago in southern Africa Amid these concerns Kakani said the airport authority has informed that around 1000 travellers landed in Mumbai from African countries in the last fortnight but it has handed over a list of only 466 such passengers so far Out of the 466 travellers 100 are from Mumbai We have already collected their swab samples Their reports are expected soon It will be clear if they are positive or negative to coronavirus Kakani said There wont be an issue if their test report is negative but the civic body is going to conduct genome sequencing of positive samples along with the S-gene missing test that is advised by the WHO for faster detection of the infection due to Omicron without genome sequencing he said If the S-gene is missing in that case it is presumed that he traveller may be infected with Omicron the official said adding that the genome sequencing will confirm the infection The infected travellers whether symptomatic or asymptomatic will be shifted to the civic bodys institutional quarantine facility at the civic-run Seven Hills Hospital in suburban Andheri he said Amid the rising concerns over Omicron the BMC has kept all its five hospitals and jumbo facilities ready the official said Measures are being taken for the structural audit fire audit oxygen supply system audit stocking adequate medicines and appointment of manpower Five jumbo centres are already functioning he said We have to upgrade the facilities One or two wards are already activated but as and when required we can activate more wards in the same jumbo facilities he added PTI KK NSK GK GK