News Analysis India

Tag: Omicron in India

  • Maharashtra reports eight more Omicron infections, tally rises to 48

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Maharashtra on Saturday reported eight new infections of the Omicron variant of coronavirus which took the total of such cases in the state to 48, the health department said.

    But 28 of these patients have already recovered or have been discharged after testing negative for COVID-19 in subsequent tests, it said.

    Overall, Maharashtra reported 854 new coronavirus infections including eight Omicron cases during the day.

    Of eight new Omicron patients, four were detected following RT-PCR tests at the Mumbai airport.

    One of them is from Mumbai itself, another is from Jalgaon in north Maharashtra and other two from Chhattisgarh and Kerala, respectively, officials said.

    Two of them had travelled to Africa, one to Tanzania while another had been to the UK.

    All four are fully vaccinated and asymptomatic, the health officials said.

    Three other new Omicron patients were a couple from Satara in Western Maharashtra and their 13-year-old daughter.

    The couple and their two daughters had returned from Uganda recently; the younger daughter who is five years old was diagnosed with COVID-19 but not the Omicron variant, district officials had said earlier in the day.

    The health condition of all four from the family was said to be fine.

    Another new Omicron patient was a 17-year-old girl from Pune city who had come into close contact with an international traveler, officials said.

  • Telangana, West Bengal report first Omicron Covid variant cases

    By PTI

    MUMBAI/HYDERABAD:  Telangana and West Bengal reported their first cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 on Wednesday, while four more persons tested positive in Maharashtra.

    So far, Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases at 32, followed by Rajasthan at 17.

    Omicron cases have also been reported in Karnataka (3), Gujarat (4), Kerala (1), Telangana (2), West Bengal (1) and Andhra Pradesh (1) and Union Territories of Delhi (6) and Chandigarh (1).

    With this, the tally of the Omicron variant cases in the country has risen to 68.

    A 24-year-old woman from Kenya and a 23-year-old man from Somalia, who landed in Hyderabad on December 12, have tested positive for the variant, a Telangana health official said on Wednesday.

    State Director of Public Health G Srinivasa Rao told reporters that the two foreign nationals were asymptomatic.

    Though they did not come from ‘at-risk’ countries, their samples were randomly collected and sent for genome sequencing in line with the protocols.

    The two close contacts of the Kenyan woman have been identified and their samples sent for COVID-19 testing.

    She was admitted to the state-run Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences (TIMS) in the city.

    The Omicron-positive Somalian national could not be tracked immediately.

    He was, however, found later on Wednesday and shifted to the TIMS, Rao said.

    West Bengal officials said that a seven-year-old boy, resident of Murshidabad district who recently returned from Abu Dhabi via Hyderabad, tested positive for the new coronavirus variant He left for a relative’s place in Malda from Kolkata airport.

    “The boy flew with his parents from Abu Dhabi to Hyderabad, where he tested positive for Omicron. He had not entered Hyderabad city. He returned to Kolkata on December 11.

    “The state health department was alerted about his Omicron report by authorities in Hyderabad only on Wednesday morning,” the senior official said.

    The boy has been shifted to a hospital in Malda, he said.

    Of the total 32 patients in Maharashtra, 25 have been discharged after a negative RT-PCR, the state health department said.

    “As per the report given by the National Institute of Virology today, 4 more patients were found to be infected with Omicron in the state. Out of these four patients, two are from Osmanabad, one from Mumbai and one patient is from Buldhana,” the department said in a bulletin.

    Three of the four new cases are of vaccinated individuals.

    One is a woman and three are men – all between the age group of 16 years and 67 years.

    More cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus are likely to come to the fore in January next year in Maharashtra, a senior state public health department official said.

    “The Omicron variant of coronavirus is spreading fast in the world and Maharashtra is likely to see a surge in cases infected by it in January next year. The cases of Omicron infection will be found in rural areas as well as in cities,” Additional Chief Secretary Pradeep Vyas said while making a presentation in the Maharashtra cabinet meeting in Mumbai.

    Under the Centre’s new norms, RT-PCR tests are mandatory for passengers arriving from the “at-risk” countries and they can only leave the airport only after the results come.

    Passengers coming from ‘at-risk’ countries to six major Indian airports have to compulsorily pre-book for the on-arrival RT-PCR test from December 20 onwards, the Civil Aviation Ministry said on Tuesday.

    However, it clarified that in case a person faces any difficulty in pre-booking the test, the passenger must not be denied boarding.

    The six airports are in Delhi, Mumbai Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

    According to the Union health ministry, ‘at-risk countries include those in Europe including the United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Hong Kong, China, Ghana, Mauritius, New Zealand and Israel.

    Also, two percent of the passengers arriving on flights from other countries are being tested randomly.

  • Eight new cases of Omicron found in Maharashtra; none had history of overseas travel

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Eight new cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus were reported in Maharashtra – seven of them in Mumbai – and none of the patients had a history of international travel, the state health department said on Tuesday.

    With the fresh cases, which included three women, the tally of those infected with the newly discovered variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19, rose to 28 in the state, the health department said in a bulletin.

    “As per the report given by the (Pune-based) National Institute of Virology today, 8 more patients were found to be infected with Omicron in the state. Out of these, seven patients are from Mumbai and one patient is from Vasai-Virar (a satellite township of Mumbai),” the health bulletin said.

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    Seven of these eight persons were vaccinated against coronavirus and their swab samples were taken for testing in the first week of December, it said.

    All of them – five men and three women – are in the age group of 24 to 41, the department said.

    It said of the eight, three are asymptomatic, while five have mild symptoms of the viral infection.

    “According to preliminary information, none of them have a history of international travel,” the bulletin said.

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    The bulletin said one of those who have been infected with Omicron had travelled to Bengaluru, while the others had visited New Delhi.

    Out of the eight patients, two are in hospital and six are in home isolation and their close contacts are being tracked, it added.

    Giving the break-up of 28 patients detected with Omicron so far, the bulletin said 12 are from Mumbai, 10 from Pimpri-Chinchwad (an industrial township in Pune district), two from Pune city, one each from Kalyan-Dombivali, Nagpur, Latur and Vasai-Virar.

    ​ALSO READ | WHO expects increase in number of deaths, hospitalisations from COVID variant Omicron

    “Out of these, nine patients have been discharged after returning negative RT-PCR test,” the health bulletin added.

    It said as many as 91,320 international travellers have arrived in Maharashtra through Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur airports in the recent days.

    Of these, 13,615 were from ‘at-risk’ countries.

    The emergence of Omicron, classified as a ‘variant of concern’ by the WHO, has caused alarm among scientists and governments across the world.

  • Three members of family returned from Uganda test positive for coronavirus in Maharashtra

    By PTI

    PUNE: Three of the four members of a family with a travel history to Uganda who returned to Phaltan tehsil in Satara district of Maharashtra recently have tested positive for coronavirus, officials said on Monday.

    Satara district civil surgeon said the samples of all the four have been sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune to ascertain if they have been infected with the Omicron variant of coronavirus.

    “A family of four – a couple and their two daughters- came to Phaltan from Uganda on December 9. They were traced and subjected to RT-PCR tests on Monday. Out of which the couple and their elder daughter tested positive for coronavirus. Report of their younger daughter came inconclusive,” civil surgeon Dr Subhash Chavan said.

    He said all four are currently admitted to the sub-district hospital in Phaltan.

    The three patients have no symptoms and are in stable condition.

    Their oxygen saturation level is around 99 per cent, Dr Chavan said.

    “We have sent their (all the four) samples to the NIV for genome sequencing to ascertain if they have been infected with the Omicron variant,” he added.

    As of Monday, Maharashtra’s tally of Omicron cases stood at 20, as per the state health department.

  • Man who returned from South Africa found positive for Omicron; Gujarat tally reaches four

    By PTI

    SURAT: A 42-year-old man from Surat who recently returned from South Africa tested positive for the Omicron variant of coronavirus on Monday, making him the first such case from Surat and fourth in Gujarat, a health department official said.

    Earlier, three cases of the Omicron variant infection were reported from Jamnagar in Gujarat, including a 72-year-old NRI man who had returned from Zimbabwe, his wife and brother-in-law.

    The 42-year-old patient found infected with the Omicron strain is a businessman based in Surat.

    ​ALSO READ | Maharashtra records two new cases of Omicron; count rises to 20 in state

    “He had arrived at Delhi airport from South Africa via Kenya and Abu Dhabi on December 3. He had tested negative for coronavirus,” deputy Municipal Commissioner, Health, Ashish Naik said.

    He again tested negative on December 4.

    “After he was hospitalised briefly for isolation here, he tested positive for coronavirus on December 8, following which we sent his sample for genome sequencing.

    He was detected with the Omicron variant on Monday,” Naik said.

    The patient is under treatment in home isolation, the official said, adding that all his relatives and all the four co-passengers have tested negative for coronavirus.

  • 25 Omicron cases detected in India so far, symptoms mostly mild: Government

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The government on Friday said 25 cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus have been detected in India so far and that mostly mild symptoms have been noted in all the cases.

    Clinically, Omicron is not posing burden on the healthcare system yet, but the vigil has to be maintained, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

    At a joint press briefing on the pandemic, the government said 25 cases of the Omicron variant have been reported in India — 10 in Maharashtra, nine in Rajasthan, three in Gujarat, two in Karnataka, and one in Delhi.

    “Mainly mild symptoms have been seen in the cases of Omicron variant detected so far,” Health Ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal said.

    ALSO READ | Infected man’s wife, brother-in-law also detected with Omicron variant in Gujarat

    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 per cent of the country’s adult population received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 53.5 per cent has been administered both doses.

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    It said the weekly positivity rate in 19 districts was between five and 10 per cent and it was over 10 per cent in eight districts of three states.

    India’s coronavirus tally climbed to 3,46,74,744 with the addition of 8,503 infections in a day, while the number of active cases rose to 94,943, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

    The death toll mounted to 4,74,735 with the addition of 624 new fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

    The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been recorded below 15,000 for the last 43 days now.