Pune: Covid-19’s new variant Omicron has gripped Maharashtra with seven new cases detected in Pune, including three minors, health officials said here on Sunday.

While 3 infected people arrived here from Africa, three others were their close contacts who have tested positive for Omicron, and one had recently travelled to Finland.

According to the officials, a 44-year-old woman, a Nigerian citizen of Indian origin, along with her two daughters, aged 18 and 12, arrived here on November 24.

The woman had come to meet her elder brother, 45 and his two daughters, aged 7 years and 18 months.

All 6 members of the two families have now tested positive – the two siblings and their four daughters – including 3 minors.

The brother and sister and her adult daughter are fully vaccinated, but only the 44-year-old Nigerian woman has displayed symptoms.

The seventh person had recently visited Finland from November 18-25 and four days after arrival complained of mild fever. He had taken both doses of the vaccine and during the routine surveillance, has tested positive for Omicron.

All seven patients are currently under treatment at the Jijamata Hospital in Pimpri-Chinchwad, and their condition is described as stable.

The developments came a day after a 33-year-old man who flew down from Capetown in South Africa to Mumbai via Dubai and New Delhi tested positive on Saturday, sounding the alarm bells in the state health setup.

A resident of Dombivali town in Thane, he is currently under treatment at a Covid centre and his condition is said to be stable but all his contacts have tested negative.

The state health authorities have been keeping an eagle eye on other passengers arriving at the international airports in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur since December 1.

In the past five days, a total of 28,221 passengers arriving by international flights have been surveyed, including 4,901 from the “high risk” countries.

A total of 5,444 passengers have been subjected to RT-PCR tests, including 543 from other countries and 4,901 from the “high risk” countries of whom 9 samples have been sent for genomic sequencing.

The state has appealed to all people that all those who have had international travel history in the past one month must get their doses on priority.

Allaying apprehensions, the Health Department said that genetic changes/mutations in viruses is a natural phenomenon and they should not panic, but strictly follow all Covid appropriate behaviour and adhere to all protocols.

Unwilling to take any risks, since December 4, BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation Commissioner I. S. Chahal clamped stringent home isolation norms for all international passengers from the afflicted countries.