Madhya Pradesh reports 8 Omicron cases in a first, slammed over reporting delay

Madhya Pradesh reported its first cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus on Sunday, with state Home Minister Narottam Mishra saying that eight foreign returnees were found infected with the new strain in Indore, of whom six have already been discharged after recovery.

Opposition Congress questioned the BJP government in the state over its "delay" in revealing the information about the Omicron cases, while the ruling party hit back saying that the process of genome sequencing of samples takes time.

"Eight Omicron cases have been found in Indore. Out of these patients, six have recovered and have been discharged while two are undergoing treatment," Mishra, who is also the state government's spokesman, told reporters.

Around 3,000 people returned to Indore from abroad recently and 26 of them were found to be infected with the coronavirus. "Omicron was confirmed in the genome sequencing of eight of these people," he said.

The samples of the eight people, who returned to the state's industrial hub Indore from different countries, were taken between December 17 and 21, according to officials. These infected people included two men aged 20 and 30 years, who came from New York (US) on December 14 and 19 respectively; a 23-year-old woman who arrived from London (UK) on December 14; two women aged 33 and 26 who returned from Tanzania (east Africa) on December 19; a 33-year-old woman who returned from Ghana (west Africa) on December 17; and two men aged 26 and 31 years, who arrived from Dubai on December 13 and 18, respectively, they said.

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On Saturday, Madhya Pradesh reported 42 new cases of coronavirus, raising the state's infection tally to 793,655, while the death toll remained at 10,532. The state had 232 active Covid-19 cases, the official added.

Meanwhile, state Congress chief Kamal Nath questioned the government's delay in disclosing the Omicron infection cases in the state. "Eight persons tested positive for the Omicron variant and six of them recovered, while two are undergoing treatment. Why did the state government hide this information for so long? This is a serious issue," Nath said.

He also raised question marks over Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's programmes held in Indore on Saturday. "While the Omicron variant was found in Indore, Chouhan gathered crowds by holding programmes. He should have cancelled his programmes and organised them virtually," he said.

Reacting to Nath's allegations, state BJP spokesman Pankaj Chaturvedi told PTI that the state government has made all necessary arrangements to prevent the spread of coronavirus and to tackle the situation. "Nath should be aware of the fact that Omicron is detected through genome sequencing of Covid-19 patients. The samples for this test are sent to Delhi and it takes time. This testing is not like clicking pictures with Bollywood actors as Nath was doing when the coronavirus pandemic broke out in the state," Chaturvedi said.

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