Maharashtra reports 695 new infections, including 7 Omicron cases, in a day

Maharashtra recorded 695 new coronavirus cases including seven Omicron infections in the last 24 hours, the state health department said on Friday evening.

The tally of Omicron variant infections found in the state thus rose to 17, it said. The state also reported 12 new pandemic-related fatalities since Thursday evening. The overall tally of coronavirus cases rose to 66,42,372 and death toll to 1,41,223.

On Thursday, Maharashtra had recorded 789 new COVID-19 cases and seven fatalities. The case fatality rate in the state stands at 2.12 per cent. As many as 631 patients were discharged from hospitals, taking the tally of recoveries to 64,90,936.

The recovery rate in the state is 97.72 per cent.

As many as 6,66,39,988 coronavirus tests have been conducted so far in the state, including 1,22,665 in the last 24 hours. Currently 75,290 people are in home quarantine and 870 are in institutional quarantine. The official release said that as per the latest report from the National Institute of Virology, seven new Omicron cases have been reported in Maharashtra -- three in Mumbai and four in Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation in Pune district. Due to this, the total of Omicron positive cases in the state increased to 17, it added. The three new patients from Mumbai were all male, aged 48, 25 and 37 years with recent history of travel to Tanzania, UK and South Africa-Nairobi, respectively, the statement said. Four new patients from PCMC limits are contacts of a Nigerian woman who was earlier confirmed as an Omicron case. Of the seven new Omicron patients, four were fully vaccinated and one had received a single dose of the coronavirus vaccine, the release said.

One adult patient was not vaccinated, while another is a three-and-half-year-old child and thus not eligible for inoculation.

Four of the new patients are asymptomatic while three have only mild symptoms, the official release said.

Meanwhile, 11 districts and five civic bodies in Maharashtra did not report any new COVID-19 case in the last 24 hours.

The Mumbai division, which comprises the city and satellite townships, reported 327 cases and five deaths.

The Pune division reported 214 new cases, Nashik division 68, Kolhapur 16, Akola four, Nagpur 10, Latur 33 and the Aurangabad division 23 new cases.

Nagpur and Aurangabad divisions did not report any fatality during the day.

Maharashtra's coronavirus figures are as follows: Positive cases 66,42,372, fresh cases 695, death toll 1,41,223, recoveries 64,90,936, active cases 6,534, total tests 6,66,39,988.