As 2021 ends, India completes 145 crore COVID vaccinations
Omicron cases in India went up by 309 in a day, the highest single-day spike, taking the country’s case count to 1,270, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday (December 31). Meanwhile, the country’s overall COVID tally went up by 16,764 with 220 deaths in a day. India reported over 10,000 daily COVID cases after 33 days.
Of the 1,270 patients infected with the Omicron variant of the virus, 374 have either recuperated or migrated, according to the ministry’s data updated at 8 am on Friday. Of the 23 states and Union territories that have recorded Omicron cases so far, Maharashtra has registered the highest number of 450, followed by Delhi (320), Kerala (109) and Gujarat (97).
The daily rise in the number of coronavirus cases crossed the 16,000 mark after 64 days, taking the country’s COVID-19 tally to 3,48,38,804, while the number of active cases of the infection has gone up to 91,361, according to the data.
54% samples in Delhi of Omicron
Senior doctors in Delhi recently warned that though the data collected so far suggests that the Omicron variant of coronavirus causes mild infection, there is a need to remain watchful as a community spread can still strain hospitals.
The elderly and those having comorbidities are at serious risk, they said. Earlier in the day, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said Omicron is gradually spreading in the community and the new, fast-spreading variant of concern has been found in 54 per cent of the latest samples analysed in the national capital.
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He also said that the variant will only spread further in the coming days. Dr Piyush Jain, Medicine Department, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, said, “Data from some foreign countries shows that the Omicron variant causes mild infection in most of the cases. But we do not have the data from India yet.”
Country crosses 145 crore vaccinations
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday said that India has crossed the milestone of 145 crore COVID vaccinations. “My gratitude to our doctors, scientists, healthcare and frontline workers for displaying immense grit, determination & resolve in the challenging 2021 year,” Mandaviya said in a tweet.
Centre calls for extra vigil
Worried over sudden rise in COVID cases once again, the Union government on Friday called for “heightened vigilance” leading into the new year. The Centre said the spurt, mostly witnessed in cities, is mainly because of global rise in cases of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, West Bengal, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have been marked as “emerging states of concern” on the basis of an increasing trajectory in weekly case counts and positivity rates.
‘Surge will be fast and many will fall sick’
WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said India’s biggest challenge in the days to come will be sudden need for medical care. “The surge is going to be very fast and many people are going to be sick. The Omicron outbreak, which has triggered fresh concerns globally and raised an alarm, will see the burden shift from hospitals to the out-patients department, from ICUs to home-based care,” Dr Swaminathan told NDTV.
(With inputs from agencies)
