101 Omicron cases in India, avoid unnecessary travel, gatherings: Centre

101 Omicron cases in India, avoid unnecessary travel, gatherings: Centre

Mangalore Today News Network / NDTV

New Delhi, Dec 17, 2021: The Omicron variant of the coronavirus is "spreading rapidly" - there are now 101 cases in India - the Health Ministry said Friday, warning that 19 districts were at high risk of a surge in COVID-19 cases.

 

Faced with the threat of a third wave of infections, the ministry underlined the need to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour, including the use of face masks and maintaining social distance. The ministry also urged people to avoid non-essential travel and stay away from large crowds and gatherings.

The ministry then issued a dire threat - that based on the progression of the strain in the UK (which already has over 11,000 Omicron cases), India could see a devastating 14 lakh cases daily.

Renewed warnings of the dangers posed by Omicron come as 10 new cases were reported from Delhi earlier in the day. The city has now 20 confirmed Omicron cases.

The 10 new cases were reported after a worrying spike in overall Covid cases in the city over the previous 24 hours - 85 were detected - up from 57 on Thursday and 45 on Wednesday.

Maharashtra - the state that was worst hit by earlier waves of Covid infections - has so far recorded the maximum number of Omicron cases - 32. Karnataka, Gujarat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Andhra Pradesh have also reported cases of the new variant.

A point of worry is that at least two of the Omicron cases reported from Maharashtra were young children - a three-year-old boy and an 18-month-old girl.

The government has already urged states to step up surveillance measures and focus on sequencing positive samples in an effort to identify cases and potential hotspots.

New travel rules were enforced starting December 1, requiring foreign arrivals from countries deemed ’at risk’ to submit to RT-PCR tests and, in some cases, mandatory quarantine.

Omicron was first reported from South Africa last month. Since then, the variant has been reported from 77 countries, including the UK, the US, Israel, Hong Kong and Japan, and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates the variant is "probably" in most countries.

The first cases in India were reported by Karnataka on December 2.

Earlier today the G7 (Group of Seven) called Omicron the "biggest current threat to global public health" and said it was now "more important than ever" for countries to "closely cooperate".

A sliver of good news is that only one death has been linked to the Omicron strain so far - in the UK.

Initial studies indicate Omicron is significantly more infectious than the Delta variant that wrought havoc in India and the world, but it does lead to less severe symptoms.