The total number of Omicron cases has gone up to 101 in India, the health ministry informed today. The ministry also said that the latest variant of the coronavirus is now present in 11 states in the country.


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Maharashtra - the worst-hit Covid state - has recorded the maximum number of omicron cases - 32.


The highly transmissible variant has also been confirmed in Karnataka, Gujarat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Andhra Pradesh.


The ministry also advised people to avoid non-essential travel and mass gatherings. "It is very important to observe low-intensity festivities," ICMR chief Balram Bhargava said during the presser.


Senior ministry official Lav Agarwal, citing a WHO briefing, said that the Omicron variant travels faster than the Delta.


"It's likely Omicron will outpace Delta variant where community transmission occurs," Lav Agrawal said.


Aggarwal further said that daily cases in India have stayed below 10,000 for the past 20 days, while the positivity rate has been recorded at 0.65% for the past 1 week.