Amid the threat posed by the Omicron Covid variant, Section 144 has been imposed in Mumbai for today and tomorrow.

With Maharashtra’s Omicron caseload rising steadily, Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) has been imposed in Mumbai on the 11th and 12th of December. During the prohibitory orders enforced, rallies and protest marches involving people and vehicles are prohibited in Mumbai. The order, issued by the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations), will be in force for 48 hours on Saturday and Sunday.

The three patients from Mumbai were all men, aged 48, 25, and 37 with recent travel history of Tanzania, the UK, and South Africa-Nairobi, respectively, the health department said. The new cases took the tally of Omicron patients in Mumbai to five.

The other four new patients were reported from the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) in the Pune district. They are all contacts of three women who had arrived from Nigeria and were found to have Omicron infection earlier, the corporation said in a statement.

Three men, aged 48, 25, and 37, are returnees from Tanzania, the UK, and South Africa, respectively, while the four patients are the contacts of Nigerian women, who were infected with the new variant on December 6, four are asymptomatic while three have mild symptoms. Of these new cases, four are fully vaccinated, one has been administered with a single dose against COVID-19 and one is unvaccinated. The toddler is not eligible for vaccination.

Meanwhile, India’s Omicron tally stands at 32 as per the latest update. In Maharashtra, 17 cases have been reported, nine cases in Rajasthan, while Gujarat, Karnataka, and Delhi have reported three, two, and one case, respectively.