Omicron on Rise in India: India has recorded 213 Omicron cases across 15 states and Union territories. At 57, Delhi has the highest cases of Omicron infection followed by Maharashtra.
New Delhi: As India’s Omicron tally surged past 200, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called a high-level meeting on Thursday to review the overall Covid-19 situation across the country. So far, India has recorded 213 Omicron cases across 15 states and Union territories. At 57, Delhi has the highest cases of Omicron infection followed by Maharashtra with 54 cases, according to the Union health ministry’s data.
What to expect?
The meeting is likely to focus on efforts to streamline the fight against the coronavirus pandemic which is undergoing its second wave in the nation. During the meeting, the PM might ask states to maintain a strict vigil on emerging COVID cases. Besides, people might be asked to cancel some of their holiday plans to protect public health, as the Omicron variant spreads globally. Notably, the World Health Organization (WHO) had earlier warned that increased social mixing over the holiday period in many countries will lead to increased cases, overwhelmed health systems and more deaths.Earlier on Tuesday, the Centre had asked states and UTs clamp a few restrictions including the imposition of night curfew, strict regulation of large gatherings, curtailing numbers in marriages in districts reporting high positivity rates.
Based on current scientific evidence, the variant of concern (VOC), Omicron, is at least 3 times more transmissible than the Delta VOC. Besides, the Delta VOC is still present in different parts of the country. Hence, even greater foresight, data analysis, dynamic decision making, and strict & prompt containment action is required at the local and district level”, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan had said in a letter to states/UTs.
The states had also been asked to ‘activate war rooms and keep analysing all trends and surges, no matter how small and keep taking proactive measures at the district or local level’.
Omicron in India | Key Points
- Delhi has recorded the maximum of 57 cases of Omicron variant followed by Maharashtra at 54, Telangana 24, Karnataka 19, Rajasthan 18, Kerala 15 and Gujarat 14 cases.
- As per WHO, Omicron has now been reported in 89 countries and the number of cases is doubling in 1.5 to three days in areas with community transmission.
“The new variant is not more severe than the Delta variant, but is possibly more contagious and resistant to vaccines”, said WHO. - The World Health Organization has urged people to cancel their holiday plans to protect public health. “An event cancelled is better than a life cancelled,” said WHO head Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding that “difficult decisions” must be made.
- In a series of tweets, Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates informed that he has canceled most of his holiday plans as his close friends are increasingly being infected with the Covid-19 virus.
- Bill Gates also warned that humanity “could be entering the worst part of the pandemic” as the Omicron variant spreads fast across the globe, stressing that Omicron will “hit home for all of us”.
- Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called on the world to pull together to end the Covid-19 pandemic within the next year. He also asked the governments to exercise maximum caution in the coming weeks and avoid events with large gatherings.
