Bhubaneswar, Jan 5: Odisha has reported 24 more cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, taking the tally to 61 in the state, informed an official on Wednesday.

Of the new Omicron cases, 5 positives have been linked to foreign travel history while 19 others are local contacts, informed Ajay Parida, Director of the Institute of Life Sciences (ILS).

A total of 218 samples were sent to the Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar for genome sequencing.

On January 2, Odisha reported 23 Omicron cases. Of which 11 of them were foreign returnees.