With three new cases of Omicron reported in India on Monday -two in Maharashtra and one in Gujarat’s Surat – the total tally of the new heavily mutated COVID-19 variant in the country has gone up to 41.

Maharashtra now has the highest number of Omicron cases in the country at 20 with two new cases surfacing in Latur and Pune. The other states to have reported the new variant are Rajasthan (9), Gujarat (4) Karnataka (3), Kerala (1) and Andhra Pradesh (1), and Union Territories of Delhi (2) and Chandigarh (1). All the cases are related to overseas travel and a close watch is being kept on the contacts of these persons to contain the spread.

Meanwhile, 5,784 new Covid-19 cases and 252 deaths were recorded nationwide in the last 24 hours ending December 14, 8 am. With 7,995 recoveries, the total number of active cases in India have declined to 88,993, the lowest in 563 days, according to figures compiled by the Union Healthy ministry.

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