Maharashtra detected seven fresh cases of the new Omicron variant of Covid-19 on Friday, officials said. Out of the seven new cases, one is reported to be a three-year-old child. With the new cases, India’s total tally of Omicron cases went up to 32. The Health Ministry, meanwhile, said that mostly mild symptoms have been noted in all the cases.
Here are the top 10 points to note about the latest developments on the ‘Omicron’ variant:
- At a joint press briefing, Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said, ” 2,936 cases of the new variant have been found in 59 countries so far. As many as 78,064 probable cases are presently under testing and genomic sequencing, Agarwal said, adding meetings are being held regularly to keep a watch on the global scenario and examine the situation in India.”
- After a gap of four days, seven new cases of the Covid-19 variant Omicron have been detected in Maharashtra – three in Mumbai and four in Pune, taking the state’s total to 17, health officials said on Friday. The cases confirmed in Mumbai are three males aged 25, 37, and 48 years, all with a recent travel history to the UK, South Africa, and Tanzania.
- Three of them are having mild symptoms and the others are found asymptomatic, but all have been isolated and undergoing treatment at various hospitals in Mumbai and Pune.
- Surveillance at the international airports in Mumbai, Pune, and Nagpur has been further intensified with 9,678 passengers landing here from the “high risk” countries from the total 61,439 travelers.
- An ICMR official said that scientific evidence for diagnosis and treatment is being reviewed regularly and the treatment remains unchanged at the moment.
- According to the government, the WHO has highlighted that compliance to public health and social measures is declining globally with the increase in vaccination rates.
- Another official said the government has not received any recommendation from the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) on the pediatric vaccination against COVID-19 yet.
- The government said 86.2 percent of the country’s adult population received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 53.5 per cent has been administered both doses.
- The government also said the weekly positivity rate in 19 districts was between five and 10 percent and it was over 10 per cent in eight districts of three states.
- Referring to an assessment by the Institute of Health Metrics, NITI Aayog member (Health) Dr V K Paul at a press conference said the usage of masks in the country has declined to pre-second wave levels and “in a way we have again entered a danger zone”. The use of masks is declining, he pointed out, and said “from the point of view of protection capability, we are now operating at a low level…at a risky and unacceptable level”. “We have to remember that both vaccines and masks are important,” Paul emphasized.
