Shillong, Jan 5 (IANS): After one case in Manipur, five cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 were detected in Meghalaya on Tuesday, health officials said.

Health and Family Welfare Department Director Aman War said that of the five cases of Omicron variant, three people were detected with the new variant of coronavirus in the three localities of Shillong and two at Saiden village in Ri-Bhoi district.

All the five people had recently returned to the state from the other states of India.

A 48-year-old man from Manipur, who had recently visited Tanzania, has tested positive for Omicron last week, becoming the first case of the new Covid-19 variant in the northeast region.

In Meghalaya, a total of 84,881 people have been infected with 32 more people testing positive for the disease on Tuesday, while one more person died, taking the death toll to 1,485.

The hill state has 97 active cases on Tuesday while 83,299 people have recovered from the disease so far.

Meghalaya government on Monday decided to regulate entry of people inthe state from outside and imposed certain other restrictions from January 5, to prevent spread of Omicron. Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma on Tuesday reviewed the Covid-19 related scenario.

"Keeping in mind the economic activities of the people, the government would come up with some restrictions in the next few days in the state," he told the media later.