Coronavirus Omicron India Highlights | 5 more test positive for Omicron variant in Karnataka; nationwide tally 83

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Five more COVID-19 patients in Karnataka have been found to be infected with the Omicron variant. The state tally rose to eight. Across India, the number of Omicron cases has climbed to 83.

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Delhi has reported 85 new COVID-19 cases, the highest since July 8 this year. The active case tally has jumped to 475.

The tally of Omicron infections in the national capital stood at 10.

A 41-year-old woman health worker was found infected with the Omicron variant of coronavirus at a village inVijapurtehsilof Gujarat'sMehsanadistrict on Thursday, officials said. This is the fifth case of Omicron infection in Gujarat sofar.

"The woman serves as an Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA). She does not have any history of foreign travel, but she recently came in contact with her relatives who had arrived from Zimbabwe, one of the 'at risk' countries," Chief District Health Officer DrVishnubhaiPatel said. She is currently undergoing treatment in an isolation ward created in a government hospital atVadnagartown ofMehsanaand her condition is stable, he said. (PTI)

Majority of parents want local authorities to shut schools only if multiple Omicron cases are found in their district or in 25 kilometres of their vicinity, according to a new survey. The survey with over 10,000 parents as respondents was conducted amid concerns being raised over the new COVID-19 variant and its rising cases.

There were respondents from over 332 districts of the country, and 61 per cent of the participants were men while 39 per cent were women. "Majority parents preferred shutting in-person schools if there are multiple Omicron cases in the district or in nearby districts (within 25-kilometre radius), while 12 per cent said shut in-person schools if there is even a single Omicron case in the district and in nearby districts," the survey conducted by online platform Local Circles stated. (PTI)

A man, who was found infected with COVID-19 in West Bengal after returning from Bangladesh, tested negative for the Omicron variant of coronavirus, a health department official said on Thursday. The patient contracted the Delta strain of coronavirus, he said.

The man, a resident of Barasat in North 24 Parganas district, was found positive for the disease on December 10, and his sample was sent for genome sequencing to ascertain whether he had contracted the new Omicron variant, which has been classified as a highly transmissible virus of concern. "We have received the report of the Bangladesh returnee. He is infected with Delta variant," the official said. (PTI)

France will beef up controls on travellers arriving from Britain after a steep rise there in infections linked to the Omicron coronavirus variant, the government said on Thursday. The measures include reducing the validity of antigen and PCR tests to 24 hours from 48 hours for arriving travellers and limiting reasons to travel from Britain to France.

The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday told the legislative council that no death due to lack of oxygen was reported in the state during the second wave of COVID-19, a claim rejected by the opposition. The government said the death certificates made no mention of ’death due to lack of oxygen’ in any of the 22,915 patients that died due to the pandemic.

Replying to Congress member Deepak Singh during the Question Hour, Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh said, "No death has been reported in the state due to lack of oxygen during the second wave." Raising a supplementary question, Deepak asked whether the government had details on similar cases that were flagged by its own ministers.

The omicron variant infects around 70 times faster than delta and the original Covid-19 strain, though the severity of illness is likely to be much lower, according to a University of Hong Kong study that adds weight to the early on-ground observations from South African doctors. The supercharged speed of omicron's spread in the human bronchus was found 24 hours following infection, according to a Wednesday statement from the university. The study, conducted by a team of researchers led byMichael Chan Chi-wai, found that the newest variant of concern replicated less efficiently -- more than 10 times lower -- in the human lung tissue than the original strain which may signal "lower severity of disease."

The study, which suggests that omicron jumps faster from one person to another but doesn't damage lung tissues as much as its predecessor strains did, is currently under peer review for publication in a scientific journal. Bloomberg didn't have access to the entire study. With scientists racing to determine how transmissible, virulent and evasive omicron is -- it has already traveled to at least 77 nations within three weeks of being first detected in southern Africa -- the new research out of Hong Kong may add ballast to descriptions by some physicians that most infections have so far been mostly mild and not requiring hospitalizations.

Many researchers are now watching if the most mutated coronavirus variant will crowd out other strains and pave way for the pandemic to slowly ebb away as an endemic where the world learns to live with the pathogen.

Satyendar

Jain

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Thursday said 10 cases of the new COVID-19 variant Omicron have been detected in the national capital so far and none of them has developed "severe" disease. He said 40 people are currently admitted to the special facility at the Lok Nayak Hospital meant for isolating and treating suspected Omicron cases. Of them, 38 are Covid positive.

"Ten Omicron cases have been detected in Delhi so far. One of them has been discharged," Jain told reporters. There has been no "severe" case so far, he said. There were six cases of Omicron in Delhi till Tuesday. The number increased to eight on Wednesday and 10 on Thursday. The minister said many international travellers are turning out Covid positive upon arrival at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

"Eight such people were admitted to the hospital today (Thursday)," he said. On Tuesday, Jain had said the Omicron variant of coronavirus has not spread in the community so far and the situation is under control. Delhi's first patient of the Omicron variant -- a 37-year-old man from Ranchi -- was discharged on Monday after he tested negative for COVID-19 twice, officials said.

He had travelled from Tanzania to Doha and from there, to Delhi on a Qatar Airways flight on December 2. He stayed in Johannesburg in South Africa for a week and had mild symptoms. Under the new norms, RT-PCR tests are mandatory for passengers arriving from the "at-risk" countries and they are allowed to leave the airport only after the results come. Also, two per cent of the passengers arriving on flights from other countries are being tested randomly.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given us free vaccination, we should get vaccinated as early as possible. I feel proud to say that 94% and 77% of people in Madhya Pradesh are successfully vaccinated with the 1st & 2nd dose respectively, says Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Chief Minister, MP