Within a fortnight, the number of cases of the new COVID-19 variant has risen significantly; the country first saw the new variant in Karnataka on 2 December
Health workers set up beds inside a ward being prepared for the omicron coronavirus variant at Civil hospital in Ahmedabad. AP
After detecting its first Omicron case in India on 2 December, the country’s tally of the new COVID-19 variant has gone up to 45.
With 20 cases of Omicron, Maharashtra has the most cases, followed by Rajasthan (9), Karnataka (3), Gujarat (4), Kerala (1) and Andhra Pradesh (1) and Union Territories of Delhi (6) and Chandigarh (1).
As Omicron, which the World Health Organization deemed as a ‘variant of concern’, spreads here’s where we stand today.
Delhi: On Tuesday, four people were detected with the Omicron variant. Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain confirming the same said that the new cases, who are isolating at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan, had travel history to foreign countries.
With these new cases, the capital’s tally has risen to six. The first case was recorded on 5 December when a 37-year-old fully-vaccinated man, who arrived in the city from Tanzania, tested positive and the other was reported last week when a fully-vaccinated individual with a travel history to Zimbabwe and South Africa tested positive for the new COVID-19 variant.
Maharashtra: On Monday, Maharashtra reported two more Omicron cases; the patients, including a woman, were fully vaccinated and were asymptomatic, according to health officials. The health department added that the two cases came from Latur and Pune respectively. Giving details, the Pune case is a 39-year old woman, while the Latur patient is a 33-year-old male and both of them had travel history to Dubai. Officials, who are carrying out contact tracing said that three close contacts of both patients have been found and they are tested to be negative.
Gujarat: On Monday, Gujarat’s Omicron tally rose to four when a 42-year-old man in Surat, who had returned from South Africa, tested positive. He had undergone a test in Delhi on his arrival and it had come out negative. However, after reaching Gujarat, he started showing symptoms after which he was tested again, officials said.
Curbs and restrictions re-imposed across the nation:
With the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, concern has begun to rise with many wondering if a lockdown of sorts would be imposed in the country.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, speaking on the same, said that his government would impose restrictions, if required, around Christmas and New Year to curb the spread of the Omicron variant even as he maintained that currently, there is no need for any such measures.
The Tamil Nadu government, led by MK Stalin, has banned all public gatherings at all beaches in the state on 31 December and 1 January.
Meanwhile, Kerala’s Pinarayi Vijayan said COVID-19 clusters should be identified and genetic sequencing tests increased there.
Omicron spreads across the world
As of Saturday, Omicron had spread to 60 countries, forcing the WHO to urge nations to ‘act now’ to beat the virus.
“This virus is formidable… Don’t wait to act. Double down… reduce the spread of all variants including Delta and Omicron, increase COVID-19 vaccination in at-risk groups in all countries. Now, not weeks from now. Now,” Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead on COVID-19 and the WHO health emergency programmes said.
Additionally, the WHO also warned that Omicron was more transmissible than the Delta variant.
The warning comes as the United Kingdom battles the variant, which is spiralling out of control. On Monday, the UK announced its first Omicron death.
Making the announcement, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the new variant was also resulting in hospital admissions, and the “best thing” people could do was get their booster jab.
With inputs from agencies
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