122 Omicron cases in 24 hours; Centre issues high alert during holiday season
Mumbai reported 683 new COVID cases, the highest since October 6, on Friday, the same day India’s Omicron case count reached 358 with one-third of the cases being reported in the last 24 hours – a significant jump. A total of 114 patients have got discharged by Friday evening, said the Union Health Ministry.
Amid the surging cases of Omicron, the Centre on Friday cautioned people against lowering their guard, particularly during year-end festivities.
In Omicron count, Maharashtra tops the chart with 88 cases, followed by Delhi with 67 cases. Telangana has reported 38 cases, Tamil Nadu 34, Karnataka 31, Gujarat 30, Kerala 27 and Rajasthan recorded 22 cases. Among other states, Haryana has 4 cases, Odisha 4, Jammu and Kashmir 3, West Bengal 3, Andhra Pradesh 2, Uttar Pradesh 2, and one each in Chandigarh, Ladakh and Uttarakhand.
The Centre urged people to avoid crowding and unnecessary travel and stressed on COVID-19-appropriate behaviour and expedited vaccination. The Maharashtra government too has decided to impose fresh restrictions in the state to avoid crowding in view of the rising cases of COVID.
A senior health department official said the predominant strain in India continued to be Delta, including in recently identified clusters.
However, a sudden surge in Omicron cases on Friday is a worrying sign. On Thursday, the total tally was 236. On Friday it went up by 122. A week back, the national count was 100; on Tuesday (December 21) it crossed 200. While experts have so far shied away from admitting that local transmission has begun, it was observed that 1/4th of the total Omicron patients had no travel history. Besides, 90% of all Omicron patients in India were fully vaccinated, which has put a question mark on the efficacy of the COVID vaccine. This implies that the new variant of concern has remarkable resistance to the vaccine, which further gives reasons to believe that a booster dose may be required – sooner or later.
Developed countries like the US, the UK and Australia have started administering booster shots while Israel is planning to give fourth shot to its citizens above 60.
India, meanwhile, has not spelled out its plan for booster doses. Currently, Covishield and Covaxin vaccines are being administered in India.
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Globally, Omicron caseload has gone above 1.5 lakh cases in over 100 countries. The UK (over 90,000) and Denmark (30,000+) have been the worst affected. A total of 26 deaths have been attributed to the new strain.
Citing the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) findings, the government said Omicron has significant growth advantage over Delta and is spreading fast through communities with a doubling time of 1.5 to 3 days.
The world is witnessing a fourth surge in COVID-19 cases and having an overall positivity rate of 6.1%.
The government said the COVID-19 case positivity rate in Kerala and Mizoram is much higher than national average and a cause for concern.
It said 20 districts across country were reporting a weekly positivity rate between 5 and 10% and two districts over 10%.
It said about 61% of India’s adults are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and 89% have been administered the first dose.
In view of the emergence of the Omicron variant, the government appealed to the private health sector to be ready as it has to play an important role in managing the pandemic.
According the Union Health Ministry data updated at 8 am, India recorded 6,650 new coronavirus infections, taking its tally of cases to 3,47,72,626, while the count of active cases has declined to 77,516.
The death toll due to the disease has climbed to 4,79,133, with 374 daily fatalities being recorded.
