The five Omicron infected patients have a history of international travel two had a history of travel to Tanzania, two others had returned from England and one from the Middle East.
Maharashtra on Friday recorded eight new cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus which took the total of such cases in the state to 48, the health department said.
Omicron scare: Maharashtra reports 8 new cases of the new COVID-19 variant, total reaches 40 - Of these, six patients were from Pune, one was from Mumbai, and another from Kalyan-Dombivli (satellite towns near Mumbai).
Cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus are likely to surge in Maharashtra in January, a senior public health department official said on Wednesday.
The World Health Organization has warned that Omicron is spreading at an unprecedented rate WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters that the strain had been reported in 77 countries