India reports 2 more Omicron cases, tally mounts to 35

India reported two more cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in Punjab's Chandigarh and Andhra Pradesh, officials said on Sunday, taking the country-wide tally of such cases to 35.

According to officials of the Chandigarh health department, a 20-year-old man from Italy, who landed in India last month, has tested positive for the Omicron variant. The man landed in India on November 22 and was diagnosed with Covid-19 on December 1, according to news sources.

The Andhra Pradesh health department said a 34-year old foreign traveller, who came from Ireland, tested positive for Omicron, in the first such case detected in the southern state.

The person, who first landed in Mumbai, was tested and found negative for Covid-19 and was then allowed to travel to Visakhapatnam on November 27.

The person, however, did not have any symptoms and a re-test on December 11 showed he was Covid-19 negative. So far, 15 foreign travellers to the state have been found Covid-19 positive and all the samples were sent to CCMB for genome sequencing.

Official asked people not to worry and continue to follow Covid appropriate behaviour and take necessary precautions.