101 Omicron cases across 11 states with daily COVID-19 cases below 10,000, in India since 20 days
New Delhi, December 17 : There are 101 Omicron cases are found across 11 states in the country with daily COVID-19 cases below 10,000 since 20 days.
32 cases were reported in Maharashtra, 22 in Delhi, 17 in Rajasthan, 8 each in Karnataka and Telangana, 5 each in Gujarat and Kerala, one each in Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal respectively.
The Health Ministry said that people must remain vigilant in view of Omicron variant, rising cases in other countries and avoid non-essential travel, mass gatherings and observe low-intensity festivities.
‘Omicron is spreading faster than the Delta variant’
“Omicron variant reported in 91 countries in the world. WHO has said that Omicron is spreading faster than the Delta variant in South Africa where Delta circulation was low. It’s likely Omicron will outpace Delta variant where community transmission occurs, WHO added,” said Lav Agrawal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry.
There is no evidence to suggest that vaccines are not effective against the Omicron variant of coronavirus, said Agarwal.
The Health Ministry has also said that districts with over 5 per cent COVID-19 case positivity rate need to ensure restrictive measures until it’s below 5 per cent for at least 2 weeks.
The case positivity for the last 1 week was 0.65 per cent with Kerala contributing 40.31 per cent to the total number of active cases in the country.
He further said that India is administering COVID-19 vaccine doses at the highest rate in the world and the daily rate of doses administered is 4.8 times the rate of doses administered in the USA and 12.5 times the rate of doses administered in the UK.
On Omicron threat, Dr VK Paul, Member-Health, Niti Aayog said that a new phase of the COVID-19 pandemic is being experienced in Europe with a steep rise in cases.
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.