Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) [India], December 7 (ANI): Two passengers who returned to Madhya Pradesh from the United Kingdom and Canada have tested positive for COVID-19, Bhopal District Administration said on Tuesday.

Both the samples were sent for genome sequencing to ascertain the Omicron variant.

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The first two cases of the new variant of COVID-19 were reported in the country in Karnataka, followed by one in Gujarat's Jamnagar and then another in Maharashtra's Dombivili.

The tally of Omicron cases in Maharashtra went up to 20 after 10 more people have tested positive for Omicron today.

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On Sunday, seven cases were reported in Maharashtra's Pune district, of which six belonged to the same family. In Jaipur, nine cases of the Omicron COVID variant were confirmed.

On December 5, Delhi reported its first case of Omicrona man who arrived from Tanzania was found infected with Omicron admitted to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan hospital in the national capital.

The new variant of COVID-19 was first reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO) from South Africa on November 25.

As per the WHO, the first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on November 9 this year.

On November 26, the WHO named the new COVID-19 variant B.1.1.529, which has been detected in South Africa, as 'Omicron'. The WHO has classified Omicron as a 'variant of concern'. (ANI)

(The above story is verified and authored by ANI staff, ANI is South Asia's leading multimedia news agency with over 100 bureaus in India, South Asia and across the globe. ANI brings the latest news on Politics and Current Affairs in India & around the World, Sports, Health, Fitness, Entertainment, & News. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)