A resident of Dharavi in Mumbai, who recently returned from Tanzania, tested positive for Omicron on Friday, taking the cases of the new coronavirus variant in Maharashtra to 11, according to officials.

The 49-year-old Muslim cleric, who is not vaccinated, was asymptomatic and was isolated before he could mingle in the community, said a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official adding that he was shifted to BMC-run Seven Hills hospital.

He returned to Mumbai from Tanzania on December 4 and his samples were sent for genome sequencing when he tested positive for coronavirus. With this, the number of Omicron-infected patients in Mumbai rose to three. One case had been found in Thane.

Tanzania does not figure in the list of ‘at-risk’ countries, but the Dharavi resident tested positive for COVID-19 during the mandatory random checking of 2% of arrivals at the Mumbai airport.

Vaccine coverage

Seven cases have been found in Pune district, but Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said on Friday that five of them have now tested negative.

Mr. Pawar, who is also the Guardian Minister for Pune, told reporters after a weekly review meeting on the COVID-19 situation, “The health of all seven patients is good. Four out of six Omicron patients in Pimpri-Chinchwad and a patient in Pune city have tested negative.”

These seven persons, including an NRI woman and her two daughters from Nigeria, had tested positive for Omicron in Pune last week.

Mr. Pawar further said that 100% of the eligible population in the district has been covered with the first dose of vaccines, and over 1.38 crore shots have been administered so far.

The pace of vaccination has increased in the last 10 days, he said, adding, “It is true that people were a bit reluctant about taking the second dose, but now after the recent developments, the pace of vaccination has increased.”

Mr. Pawar said a booster dose comes into picture only when the eligible population is fully vaccinated against the viral infection and that is the current priority for the State Government.

However, a decision on administering the booster dose to further enforce immunity against the infection has to be taken by the Centre, Mr. Pawar said.