Omicron Covid-19 Variant Live Updates: Two cases of Covid-19 Omicron variant were reported in Mumbai on Monday, taking India’s total tally of the new coronavirus variant to 23.
The first two cases were reported in Karnataka, followed by one in Jamnagar (Gujarat) and another in Maharashtra. Later on Sunday, seven cases were reported in Maharashtra’s Pune district, of which six belonged to the same family. In Jaipur, nine cases of the Omicron variant were confirmed — all of whom had attended the same wedding.
Several states have stepped up vaccination, surveillance and containment measures as India detected over 20 cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus. Delhi airport operator DIAL to implement better crowd management strategies after passengers complained of chaos and crowding at its terminal following the implementation of new coronavirus-related travel guidelines. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urged the public not to panic and follow Covid appropriate behavior.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu government has taken preventive measures including door-to-door vaccination in wake of Omicron variant. Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj said that the state is fully prepared to control the new variant. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit on Monday said there is a need to take a decision at the national level on whether a booster dose of the vaccine is required to curb the pandemic. “The Center too should take a strict position on patients coming from abroad in various states. It must be ensured rules are observed strictly at our international airports,” he added.
India recorded 8,306 new Covid-19 cases, according to the Health Ministry’s press release, in the last 24 hours ending 8 am on December 6. As many as 211 new deaths were reported in the country. With 8,834 recoveries, the active cases in India stood at 98,416.
Two fresh cases of Omicron have been detected in Mumbai on Monday, taking the tally in Maharashtra to 10. Both patients have a history of international travel and are fully vaccinated.
A 37-year-old man who had come from Johannesburg, South Africa on November 25 and his 36-year-old friend who returned from the USA on the same day have been detected with the Omicron variant.
Both patients had taken Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine. They are currently admitted at Seven Hills Hospital in Mumbai but don’t have any symptoms.
On Sunday, seven new Omicron cases had been reported in Maharashtra. Among the seven people who had tested positive for Omicron was a 44-year-old woman of Indian origin, who is a resident of Lagos in Nigeria, and her daughters who had come to Pimpri-Chinchwad on November 24. The woman had come to visit her 45-year-old brother and his two daughters, all of whom tested positive for the Omicron variant.
The new variant was also detected in a 47-year-old man from Pune, a report by the National Chemical Laboratory has stated. The man had visited Finland last month and got tested recently after he had mild fever. He had been fully vaccinated with Covishield.
Five contacts of a doctor in Bengaluru infected by the Omicron variant of Covid-19 have no symptoms of the disease, and this shows the importance of vaccinations, Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said on Monday.
Three primary contacts – immediate family members of the doctor – and two secondary contacts who tested positive for Covid-19 have been in isolation and under observation at a government facility over the past week.
They are suspected to have contracted the infection from the doctor who tested positive on November 22 — despite having no travel history. The doctor, a resident of Bengaluru, was found on December 2 to have been infected with the Omicron variant of coronavirus, following genomic sequencing of his samples.
The genomic sequencing reports for the five contacts of the doctor are yet to be provided to the Karnataka health department, the minister said.
“There are no symptoms in the contacts of the person infected with the new variant. They are not facing any complications or severity (of the disease). They are admitted to the Bow ring hospital, and I am in touch with the director of the hospital,” the health minister said.
“The mild nature of infection in the contacts may be because they are fully vaccinated against Covid-19. This is the reason why we believe there will not be severity in those who are vaccinated. This is why we are asking people to complete two doses of vaccination,” Dr Sudhakar said.
“We do not have to be too concerned with this variant. We handled the Delta variant, which had a higher level of severity. If we compare Omicron to Delta, then we are not seeing reports of severity of disease anywhere in the world. The only concern is the rapid transmissibility of the variant – to prevent this we need people to be vaccinated,” he said.
The BBMP issued orders on Sunday making it mandatory for those visiting malls and theaters to be fully vaccinated. The BBMP has started vaccination drives at some malls in Bengaluru following the issuance of the orders.
“Now we have 93 per cent of people in the state at least partially vaccinated and 64 per cent fully vaccinated. We have a stock of 70 lakh doses at present and people must come forward to complete vaccinations by the end of December,” the health minister said.
“In any pandemic, if you look at history, it is the second wave that is the most severe. The third wave, is usually of less intensity than the second wave. This is the historical evidence for pandemics. Even if there is a third or fourth wave it may be less severe, and then it dies out,” he said.
“Children were not badly affected by the second wave, when the Delta variant was predominant. The sense now is that this variant will not affect children either. This is what scientists are saying,” Dr Sudhakar said.
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