New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday said that there are 101 cases of the omicron variant of Kovid-19 in 11 states of the country and urged everyone to avoid non-essential travel and mass gatherings, apart from observing low-intensity festivals.
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Balram Bhargava said, “It is time to avoid non-essential travel, mass gatherings and it is very important to follow low intensity celebrations.”
Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health Ministry said that there is no evidence that vaccines are not effective against the Omicron variant.
The DG of ICMR, on his part, said that the scientific data is still largely not supported that the pills will be useful at this point in time.
“We are discussing these anti-viral COVID19 pills. We have found that these pills need to be given very early even before the disease is diagnosed,” he said.
Commenting on the Omicron threat, Dr VK Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog said that Europe is experiencing a new phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and cases are increasing rapidly.
Citing the World Health Organization (WHO), the government said that Omicron is spreading faster than the delta version of the coronavirus in South Africa where the delta circulation was low.
Quoting the WHO, the government said it is likely that the Omicron spread will overtake the delta version where community transmission occurs, PTI reported.
The government said that 19 districts reported weekly COVID positivity between five and ten per cent and five districts reported more than ten per cent.
The Joint Secretary informed that for the last 20 days new daily Kovid-19 cases were registered below 10,000.
“The case positivity was 0.65% for the past one week. At present, Kerala contributes to 40.31% of the total number of active cases in the country,” he said, ANI reported.
Agarwal said that India is administering the COVID-19 vaccine dose at the highest rate in the world, with the daily rate of administered dose being 4.8 times the dose rate administered in the United States and 12.5 times the dose rate administered in the United States. ,
State-Wise Omicron Tally:
According to health ministry data, out of 101 omicron cases detected across India, Maharashtra alone accounts for 32 infections.
So far 22 cases of Omicron variant have been reported in Delhi.
Rajasthan has reported 17 cases of Omicron type, while Karnataka and Telangana have eight each. Five cases each have also been reported in Gujarat and Kerala.
In addition, the states of Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have reported one case each of Omicron type.
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