Omicron covid variant

Amid growing Omicron cases in the country, India records the lowest Covid case count in 19 months as Covid infections continue to drop nationwide. The country registered less than 50,000 new Covid-19 cases in the past week, according to the data released by the Ministry of Health and Family welfare.

"There is no evidence to suggest that vaccines are not effective against Omicron variant," he said, adding that it is likely that Omicron will outpace Delta variant where community transmission occurs as per a WHO report. In a briefing on the present situation of Covid and new variant Omicron in the country, he said that it is very important to have low-intensity festivities and avoid non-essential travel and mass gatherings.

Both the cases were detected among air passengers from non-risk countries. Both had arrived at Hyderabad International Airport on December 12 via Abu Dhabi and Qatar, a top health official said. A 24-year-old female had arrived from Kenya while a 23-year-old had come from Somalia. The Kenyan national has been isolated at Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences (TIMS) while health authorities were trying to trace the second case.

The Omicron variant, thought to be more virulent than its predecessor Delta, was first identified in South Africa in November and has since spread to more than 60 countries around the world. "India in December 2021 is very different from India in March 2021," Dr Jameel, a visiting scientist at Ashoka University, told IANS. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), "preliminary data doesn't indicate that this is more severe".

The six patients have been detected at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) hospital, which has been dedicated for the treatment of Omicron patients. Of the six, a 37-year-old from Ranchi, who was the first Omicron patient in Delhi, has been discharged, Jain said, adding that the remaining five are all stable with mild symptoms.

"ICMR-RMRC, Dibrugarh, has designed and developed a hydrolysis probe-based real-time RT-PCR assay for detection of the new Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) SARS-CoV-2 that can detect the new variant within two hours. This is important because as of now a minimum of 36 hours is required for targeted sequencing and 4 to 5 days for whole-genome sequencing to detect the variant," said Dr Biswajyoti Borkakoty.

The data also disclosed that 220 succumbed to the virus in the past 24 hours and the new Omicron covid variant cases have been detected in five states till now including Karnataka, Gujarat, Delhi, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan. The total number of Omicron cases in India has increased to 23 on Tuesday.

With the first case in Delhi, the total cases of Omicron variant has climbed to five in India. The first two cases of Omicron variant were reported from Karnataka. The third and the fourth cases were found in Gujarat and Maharashtra respectively on Saturday. Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain said on Sunday that the results of 12 samples, which were sent for genome sequencing, have come out. Out of the total 12, only one has been confirmed for the Omicron variant. The other 11 have tested positive for normal Covid.

With this, the number of passengers testing positive after their arrival in Hyderabad has gone up to 13. According to the Director of Public Health, G. Srinivasa Rao, out of the 219 passengers who arrived here on Friday, nine tested positive. He, however, did not disclose the details of the countries they came from. Earlier, a 35-year-old woman, who arrived here from the UK on December 1, had tested positive. Three more had tested positive the next day.