Maharashtra records 198 Omicron cases amid fears of third Covid wave

Mumbai alone witnessed a massive surge yet again with 3,671 infections, 46 percent higher compared to Wednesday.

Earlier in the afternoon, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray met the state's Covid task force to hold a high level discussion on the new variant that is believed to be driving up the infections in Maharashtra.

Maharashtra has the highest overall cases in the country at 66,65,386 ever since the pandemic started.

So far, 450 patients affected by Omicron have been registered by the state. India has logged over 960 cases of this new 'highly infectious' variant.

Mumbai too has seen a five-fold increase over the last week in its daily surge of Covid cases.

Fearing another round of Covid wave, the city's civic body - the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation - has reactivated its ward-level war rooms to tackle the increasing number of cases.

These war rooms are set up in all 24 wards to manage hospital admissions, oxygen and medicine requirements as well as vaccination.

Mumbai has banned all New Year's related celebrations amid the spike in cases. However, the streets continue to see large crowds owing to the festive season.