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Coronavirus Omicron India Highlights: Chandigarh reported its first case of Omicron after swab samples of a fully vaccinated 20-year-old male passenger from Italy, who had tested COVID-19 positive on December 1, revealed the presence of the new variant of the novel coronavirus. A 20-year-old man, who reached here from abroad to meet his relatives, has tested positive for Omicron, becoming the first patient of the new COVID-19 variant in Chandigarh, Health department officials here said on Sunday.
The UK on Sunday raised its Covid Alert Level due to the "rapid increase" in cases of the Omicron variant, as the government announced new measures to control its spread. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, under pressure because of claims he and staff flouted Covid restrictions last Christmas, was due to make an address to the nation at 2000 GMT.
He is expected to talk about the country's booster programme. The decision to increase the five-stage public health risk assessment from level three to four comes after a further 1,239 confirmed cases of the variant were recorded on Sunday. That brings the total number of UK cases of Omicron to 3,137 -- a 65 percent increase from Saturday's total of 1,898.
Britain began easing coronavirus restrictions in June and the alert level was at stage three, which means the epidemic is in general circulation. Level four means "transmission is high and pressure on healthcare services is widespread and substantial or rising". The four chief medical officers for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland said the move was prompted by advice from the UK Health Security Agency, a public health body.
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In the wake of the first confirmed case of Omicron variant in the state, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday said COVID-19 clusters should be identified and genetic sequencing tests increased there. The direction to the health department was given by the CM during the COVID review meeting held during the day, a press release said.
The CM also said that all the 36 persons who had come in close contact with the Omicron confirmed patient from Ernakulam were in isolation. The patient had arrived in Kochi with his wife on December 6 via Abu Dhabi on an Etihad flight.
In the meeting, Vijayan also directed the District Collectors and the Health Department to pay special attention to districts with low vaccination rates, the release said. He directed that the vaccination rate in Palakkad, Malappuram and Kozhikode districts be increased. (PTI)
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi have developed an RT-PCR based assay for the specific detection of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 within 90 minutes, according to officials.
Currently, the identification or screening for Omicron is done worldwide using next-generation sequencing-based methods which require over three days. The institute has filed an Indian patent application for the rapid screening assay developed by its Kusuma School of Biological Sciences and is in process of initiating talks with potential industry partners. (PTI)
Twonew cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus were reported inMaharashtra, with a39-year-old woman from Latur and33-year-old person from Pune being found infected. The tally of Omicron cases in India has cllimbed to 40.
Health authorities in northern China's port city of Tianjin have detected the first case of the Omicron coronavirus variant in the country's mainland, the state-run Tianjin Daily reported on Monday.
The infection was discovered in a traveller who arrived in the city from overseas on Dec. 9, the newspaper said, adding that the patient is currently being treated in isolation in hospital. (Reuters)
At least one patient has died in the United Kingdom after contracting the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday.
"Sadly at least one patient has now been confirmed to have died with Omicron," Johnson told reporters.
"So I think the idea that this is somehow a milder version of the virus - I think that's something we need to set on one side - and just recognise the sheer pace at which it accelerates through the population."
Since the first Omicron cases were detected on Nov. 27 in the United Kingdom, Johnson has imposed tougher restrictions, and on Sunday he urged people to get booster shots to prevent the health service from being overwhelmed.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the Omicron coronavirus variant was spreading at a "phenomenal rate" and now accounted for about 40% of infections in London.
Reuters
The Omicron variant of coronavirus could cause between 25,000 and 75,000 COVID-19 related deaths in the UK by April next year, if additional control measures were not taken, according to a modelling study. The yet-to-be peer-reviewed study suggests that Omicron has the potential to cause a wave of transmission in England that could lead to higher levels of cases and hospitalisations than those seen during January 2021.
The researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) in the UK used the latest experimental data on the antibody-evading characteristics of Omicron to explore plausible scenarios for the immune escape of the variant. Under the most optimistic scenario, a wave of infection is projected which could lead to a peak of over 2,000 daily hospital admissions, with 175,000 hospitalisations and 24,700 deaths between December 1, 2021 and April 30, 2022, if no additional control measures are implemented. (PTI)
The Delhi government has provided a one-time financial assistance of Rs 50,000 to 21,235 families that lost their near ones to COVID-19, Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam said on Monday. Separately, 9,484 of the 12,668 applications received have been approved for a monthly pension of Rs 2,500, he said at a press conference here.
Under the "Mukhyamantri COVID-19 Pariwar Aarthik Sahayata Yojana", the Delhi government has been providing a one-time financial assistance of Rs 50,000 to the families of all the coronavirus victims in the city and a monthly assistance of Rs 2,500 to households that have lost the sole breadwinner and for children orphaned due to the pandemic.
"A total of 25,100 applications have been received for a one-time financial aid of Rs 50,000. So far, 21,235 families have been given the assistance,” Gautam said. Around 2,500 families did not avail the scheme due to various reasons, while around 1,500 will receive the aid soon, he added. The minister said the city government has approved 9,484 of the 12,668 applications received for the monthly pension of Rs 2,500.
Of the applicants, 7,955 have already started receiving the pension, he said, adding that 1,120 applications are under verification in the revenue department. Gautam underlined that the government has been disbursing pensions as soon as the verification process is complete and the pendency is negligible.
The union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands reported one new COVID-19 case in the last 24 hours, which took the tally to 7,698, a health department official said on Monday. The archipelago now has eight active COVID-19 cases and all the patients are in the South Andaman district. The other two districts North and Middle and Nicobar Islands are coronavirus free, he said. The archipelago now has eight active COVID-19 cases and all the patients are in the South Andaman district.
The COVID-19 death toll remained at 129 as no new fatality due to the infection was reported in the last 24 hours, the official said. A total of 7,561 people have so far recovered from COVID-19, he said. The union territory had reported one new COVID-19 case on Sunday. The administration has so far tested 6,45,188 samples for COVID-19 and the cumulative test positivity rate is 1.19 per cent. A total of 5,74,691 beneficiaries have been inoculated with COVID-19 vaccine, of which 2,98,076 have received the first dose and 2,76,615 both doses of the vaccine, he added.
China has reported a sudden flare-up of COVID-19 cases in Zhejiang Province which registered 138 locally-transmitted confirmed cases stated to be that of Delta strain "sub-lineage AY.4", prompting officials to bar millions of people in the eastern province from travelling outside. Zhejiang Province has registered 138 locally-transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases and one asymptomatic carrier between December 5-12, amid the latest COVID-19 resurgence, state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.
The report from Hangzhou, the provincial headquarters on Sunday said of the 138 in Zhejiang 44 cases were reported in Ningbo, 77 cases in Shaoxing and 17 cases were in the provincial capital of Hangzhou. The whole-genome sequencing and analysis found that the cases in the three cities were caused by the Delta strain sub-lineage AY.4, which is stated to be more transmissible and carries a higher viral load than the original novel coronavirus, the report quoted an official with the Zhejiang provincial centre for disease control and prevention as saying.
Local authorities have imposed restrictions on public gatherings and travelling out of the province to prevent the virus from spreading further, it said. The province has a 64.6 million population. On Monday in a separate report, the National Health Commission said the province has reported 74 new reported cases on Sunday alone. It is not clear whether they are new cases.
The Supreme Court Monday directed the Centre to file reply on a plea seeking to revive the vaccine public sector units and utilise their full production capabilities by placement of purchase orders. A bench comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and A S Bopanna asked the Centre to respond to the plea within four weeks after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said notice is not needed in the matter as this would be in the domain of policy decision.
"We want to know what is the policy of the government... SG appears for Centre and states that a reply will be filed by four weeks. A rejoinder may be filed within three weeks thereafter. List the matter after the pleadings are complete," the bench said. Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati also appeared for the Centre. Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves appeared for the petitioners.
The top court was hearing a plea filed by former IAS Amulya Ratna Nanda, All India Drug Action Network, Low Cost Standard Therapeutics and Medico Friend Circle to grant functional autonomy to vaccine public sector units and put these PSUs to use especially after public funds were spent to make them Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) compliant.
The plea said these PSUs should be granted “full autonomy” as envisaged in the Javid Chowdhary report, on vaccine production in the public sector units, of 2010 to ensure their complete revival and smooth functioning in the future. It stated no PSUs should be excluded from producing any vaccine or from government vaccine procurement, as long as quality and affordability are ensured.
Referring to a 2016 order of the top court, in which the government had agreed to take action to revive the PSUs, the plea said the vaccine manufacturing facilities that were catering to 80-85 per cent of the demand prior to their suspension continued to languish wastefully despite their modernisation and capacity expansion.
“India is home to the oldest vaccine PSUs, with 25 of them set up under the British Raj. By the 1980s, 29 PSUs were set up with the sole objective of self-reliance and self-sufficiency in vaccine production for the Universal Immunisation Programme introduced in 1986 to prevent mortality and morbidity amongst children in India as part of the global effort by the World Health Organisation,” the plea said.
Ladakh recorded a fresh fatality due to COVID-19 and 18 new cases, taking the virus tally to 21,822 in the union territory, officials said.The COVID-19 death toll in Ladakh has climbed to 216 with 158 deaths in Leh and 58 in Kargil since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, they said The active cases in the union territory have come down to 190, officials said. All the fresh cases were reported in Leh, they said. A total of 401 sample reports in Ladakh were found negative, they said.
