Maharashtra reports 198 new Omicron cases, tally reaches 450

Maharashtra today recorded 198 new Omicron cases, taking the tally of the state to 450. This comes on a day the state reported 5,368 fresh Covid cases, including 3,671 from Mumbai as reported by the civic authority.

State health minister Rajesh Tope on Thursday said with around 4,000 cases, Mumbai's case positivity rate has increased to 8.48%. The alarming spread of Omicron remains unabated in the state and keeping this is mind, the government has decided to use S-gene dropout kit maximum to identify Delta and Omicron at RT-PCR centres only, before genome-sequencing. This will help the doctors to differentiate between Omicron and Delta variants, the minister said.

Earlier today, the Mumbai Police imposed Section 144 in the city starting from today till January 7. As per the new Covid-19 restrictions, prohibition has been placed on New Year's celebrations, parties in any closed or open space including restaurants, hotels, bars, pubs, resorts and clubs from December 30 to January 7.


"Vaccination drives will be done at full speed. School students should be taken in batched to vaccination centres. This will result in a high rate of vaccination. Schools will not be closed as of now," Rajesh Tope said.