Coronavirus Omicron India Highlights | Delhi reports 2,779 new cases, 38 deaths

Delhi reports 2,779 new cases, 38 deaths and 5,502 recoveries. Positivity rate 6.20%

Active cases: 25,567
Total Omicron cases: 307

With an aim to achieve 100 per cent vaccination against COVID-19 in the city, the Delhi government has launched war rooms in each district to ensure that all eligible residents are fully inoculated, officials said. These war rooms comprise a dedicated workforce whose primary role is to remind people about their impending second dose by telephoning them and ensuring that they get jabbed.

After reporting more than 50,000 fresh COVID-19 cases daily for the last few days, Kerala on Monday logged 42,154 new infections which raised the caseload to 60,25,669. The southern state had reported 51,570 cases a day ago.Of the deaths, 10 were reported in the last 24 hours, 81 were those which occurred in the last few days but were not recorded due to late receipt of documents and 638 were designated as COVID-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the directions of the Supreme Court, the release said.With 38,458 more people recovering from the virus since Sunday, the total recoveries reached 56,12,993. However, as the number of recoveries were less than the new COVID-19 cases, the active cases rose to 3,57,552, the release said.

Tripura's daily Covid-19 cases dropped to 79 on Monday from 186 a day before, while the overall infection tally increased to 1,00,221, a health department official said here. The North-eastern state registered four fresh fatalities taking the death toll to 896. The North-eastern state registered four fresh fatalities taking the death toll to 896.All schools, colleges and universities opened from Monday after a gap of one month in Tripura. Altogether 186 Covid positive cases were confirmed out of 4945 samples on Sunday while the test positivity rate was 3.54 per cent.A total of 2,238 samples were tested for coronavirus on Monday, out of which 79 came out positive. West Tripura district reported the highest infection count at 30. As many as 94,950 patients have recovered from the disease in the 24 hours, the official said.As the number of Covid cases decreases in the state, normal academic activities began in all schools, colleges and universities. As per the government's decision, academic activities resumed in all government, government-aided and private schools because of a steep decline in Covid positive cases,a senior official of the Education department said. The authorities were asked to strictly maintain Covid appropriate behaviour in their institutes, he added.

The Centre on Monday opposed in the Supreme Court the arguments that people are losing their jobs and rations allegedly due to the COVID-19 vaccine mandates issued by various states and authorities, saying nobody is losing anything. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told this to a bench comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai that was hearing a matter in which issues including disclosure of data on clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines and vaccine mandates have been raised.Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner, said the aspect of vaccine mandates that are being issued by several states and other authorities is urgent as people are losing their jobs. Right now, what is urgent is the vaccine mandate because people are losing their jobs. They are losing their rations. They are not able to move around freely as a result of these vaccine mandates, Bhushan said.

In view of a decline in COVID-19 cases, the Himachal Pradesh government has decided to restore six-day work week for employees with immediate effect, an official spokesperson said. The cabinet, during its meeting headed by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur here on Monday, however, decided to continue the night curfew from 10 pm to 6 until further orders, he said.All government offices will remain open as usual for six days a week with 100 per cent capacity, he added. As COVID-19 cases had seen a surge owing to the third wave of the pandemic, the government had restricted its offices to work five days a week and with 50 per cent capacity. Employees with disabilities and pregnant women will continue to work from home, the spokesperson said on Monday, citing the chief minister. Educational institutions may reopen their doors for Classes 9 -12 from February 3. Higher education institutions, too, can resume activities, he added.The cabinet has also permitted reopening of coaching classes, libraries, gyms and clubs from February 3, he said. It also relaxed restrictions on public gatherings allowing a maximum of 500 people for outdoor and 250 people for indoor events, with the facilities running at 50 per cent of their capacity, subject to adherence to the COVID-19 safety protocols and COVID appropriate behaviour.

Secretary to Puducherry government (Relief and Rehabilitation) Ashok Kumar on Monday announced extension of Covid-19 restrictions till midnight of February 28. The Secretary, in an order, said all social, entertainment-related gatherings would be prohibited. Restaurants, hotels, bars and liquor shops would operate with adherence to standard operating procedures, he said. But, the beach road, parks and public gardens would remain open, he said and asked people to wear masks and maintain social distancing. All religious places of worship would be open for public only up to 10 PM. Weddings are permitted in religious places with just 25 people and the number of guests in functions not more than 100. Funerals should not have more than 20 mourners, he said. The Secretary said petrol bunks, ATMs, water and electricity supply, dairy and milk supply booths are exempted from the restrictions. Cinemas, theatres, and multiplexes are permitted to function till 12.30 AM. The Health Department should keep watch on people coming from foreign countries, Ashok Kumar said. Tourists spots are permitted to operate by complying with Covid protocols.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on January 31 announced relaxation in COVID restrictions. The night curfew timings have been changed to 11pm-5am instead of the earlier 10pm-5am. "Restaurants, bars, and cinema halls to operate at 75% capacity. Parks & tourist places to reopen with COVID safety protocols," the CM said. The West Bengal govt further added that Mumbai-Kolkata and Delhi-Kolkata flights will operate daily. "UK-Kolkata flights to resume normal operations subject to RT-PCR test report to be carried by passengers," it said.

About 90 per cent of India's adult population has received the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine whereas over 70 per cent have been administered both the doses, President Ram Nath Kovind said on Monday.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the Indian education system and there has been a decline in the enrolment of rural children in the age group of 6-14 years in schools, according to the Economic Survey 2021-22. It also said that the shift towards online education during the pandemic led to the increased digital divide between the haves and have-nots.Due to the limitation of non-availability of official data, the survey was based on alternate sources of smaller studies by the government and citizen-led non-government agencies like the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER). "...ASER (Rural) report also found that during the pandemic, children (age 6-14 years) not currently enrolled in schools' increased from 2.5 per cent in 2018 to 4.6 per cent in 2021," said the survey tabled in Parliament on Monday by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.While the enrolment decline was relatively large among the younger age group (7-10 years), the drop in enrolment for younger boys was higher than girls, it said, adding that "the drop in enrolment happened in 2020, although it has remained stable in 2021". The ASER report also found that during the pandemic, children in rural areas have moved out of private to government schools in all age groups. This was because of the shutdown of low-cost private schools, financial distress of parents, free facilities in government schools, and families migrating back to the village.

Several hundred students protested on Monday near the residence of Maharashtra school education minister Varsha Gaikwad in Mumbai demanding that offline exams for classes X to XII be canceled amid the coronavirus pandemic. The protest took place in Ashok Mill Naka in Dharavi and police had to resort to a mild baton charge to stop them from moving towards the minister's residence in the vicinity, an official said.The students, who had assembled from areas like Thane and Nashik besides the metropolis on the basis of information shared on social media, did not have permission for the protest, the police official added. "No student was injured in the lathicharge. Some of them were brought to the local police station and released soon after," he said.