The Omicron coronavirus variant, which is found to be more transmissible than the Delta strain, has already spread across 63 countries, the World Health Organization said Sunday.
Now, the Omicron tally in India has risen to 38 after Andhra Pradesh and Kerala and reported their first cases of the newly discovered variant.
As per reports, a patient, hailing from Vizianagaram, arrived at Mumbai airport from Ireland on November 27 and tested negative for Covid-19 in a RT-PCR test. However, the genomic sequencing conducted on his sample was found positive for the variant Omicron.
On the other side, a UK returnee who landed in Kerala has tested positive for the new variant, making it the first case in the state. Chandigarh also confirmed its first case late on Saturday night.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Covid-19 positive samples are also being genome tested across labs in India. As per reports, vaccine manufacturers Pfizer/BioNTech said three doses of their jabs were effective against the new variant.