Coronavirus Omicron Highlights | Maharashtra reports 31,111 new COVID cases

The number of daily COVID-19 cases continued to rise sharply in Kerala with the state reporting 22,946 fresh infections on Monday taking the total caseload to 53,92,652, a health bulletin said.The state Health Department said the growth rate of new virus cases has shot up by 182 per cent compared to the number of cases reported in the previous week (January 10 and 16).The toll in the state touched 50,904 with 72 virus-related deaths, it said. Among the new deaths, 18 were recorded over the last few days and 54 designated as COVID-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the directions of the Supreme Court."Currently, there are 1,21,458 active COVID-19 cases in the state out of which only 3.7 per cent requirehospitalisation," the state government said in a press release

UttarPradesh on Monday reported 15,622 fresh coronavirus cases, pushing the active infection tally to 1,06,616 as nine more people died ofCovidin the last 24 hours, raising the toll to 22,972, an official statement said. Lucknow reported the maximum number of 2,716 new cases, followed byGautamBudhNagarreporting 2,152 cases,Ghaziabad1,281 and Meerut 968 among other districts, it said. Two deaths each were reported from Aligarh andBudaunwhile one death each from Moradabad,Prayagraj,Etawah,MirzapurandMau, the statement said. As many as 12,402 more coronavirus patients have recovered from the viral infection, taking the total number of recoveries to 17,20,077, it said.

Singapore woman shuttler Yeo Jia Min has tested positive for COVID-19 upon her return from India after withdrawing from the just-concluded India Open in New Delhi. The Singapore Badminton Association (SBA) said Yeo had tested negative in India. However according to SBA, the rapid antigen test (RAT) she took upon arrival in Singapore on Sunday returned positive.Her positive test result was later confirmed by a second confirmatory RAT test on Monday. The 22-year-old Yeo withdrew from the tournament last Thursday after she experienced "high fever".

The Delhi government received as many as 12,471 calls on itsCovidhelpline number 1031 over the last one week, even as the number of calls saw a slight decline from January 13 to January 16. Data provided by the city health department also showed that between January 10 and January 16, as many as 9,899 calls were received for ambulances.Meanwhile, Delhi Health MinisterSatyendarJain on Monday said the number of fresh COVID-19 cases has been reducing in the city for the last few days. According to the health department's data, between January 10 (Monday) and January 16 (Sunday), a total of 12,471 calls were received on the government'sCovidhelpline number and 9,899 calls for ambulances were received separately.

Russian authorities on Monday reported a sharp spike in newcoronaviruscases, apparently driven by the rapid spread of the omicron variant health officials warned about last week.The country’s state coronavirus task force registered 30,726 new infections over the last 24 hours, which is twice as many as 15,830 just a week ago and the highest daily tally since early December. The task force has also reported 670 deaths.The omicron variant spreads much more easily than other coronavirus strains, and has already become dominant in many countries. It also more easily infects those who have been vaccinated or had previously been infected by prior versions of the virus. However, early studies show omicron is less likely to cause severe illness than the previous delta variant.

CM YSJaganMohanReddy has held a review meeting on prevailingCovidsituation & decided to write a letter to the Centre seeking to reduce the gap for administering 'precautionary dose' from existing nine months to six months,AndhraPradesh Chief Minister's Office said.The CM has directed the officials to focus on scaling up vaccination in five districts - East Godavari,Guntur,YSRKadapa,VizianagaramandSrikakulam- with the lowest second dose vaccination.

Tickets for the Winter Olympics set to begin on Feb. 4 will be distributed to "targeted" groups of people and will not be sold to the general public, theorganisingcommittee said on Monday, in the latest setback to the Games inflicted by COVID-19.Organisershad said in September that there would not be any international spectators at the Games, under COVID-19 prevention policies that have all but shut China's borders to internationaltravellers.It cited the "severe and complex" COVID-19 situation and the need to protect the safety of Olympics personnel and spectators in Monday's announcement. Local spectators who receive tickets must observe strict COVID-19 prevention measures before, during and after attending Olympic events, the committee said. It did not give further details, or further specify how tickets would be distributed. China, which has largely managed to curb local COVID-19 infections, is scrambling to prevent the spread of scattered outbreaks of the highly infections Omicron variant just as the busy Lunar New Year travel period begins.