China on Wednesday reported cases of an Omicron subvariant surfacing in Beijing and Shaanxi province as the Chinese capital announced new measures, making it mandatory to show proof of vaccination for people entering public places.
With Omicron, the new variant of SARS-CoV2, the third wave of coronavirus could hit the peak by February with cases likely to be reaching up to 1-1.5 lakh a day in the country, but it will be milder than the second wave, Manindra Agarwal, IIT scientist involved in the mathematical projection of trajectory of COVID-19, said.
Jammu and Kashmir and Odisha on Tuesday recorded their first cases of the Omicron variant of COVID as the count of the new strain in 14 states and union territories crossed 200 even as the Centre said there is a need to 'activate' war rooms, take 'pro-active' action and consider night curfews.
Though the economy has steadily gained momentum and remained resilient since the second quarter of the current fiscal, the Omicron variant of coronavirus remains the major challenge along with rising inflation pressures, says the Reserve Bank in its second financial stability report. In the foreword to the report released on Wednesday, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das notes that after the destructive second wave in April-May 2021, the growth outlook has progressively improved, though there are headwinds from global developments and more recently from the Omicron virus. A stronger and sustainable recovery hinges on the revival of private investment and shoring up private consumption, which unfortunately still remain below their pre-pandemic levels, he notes.
The Omicron variant was first detected in India in Bengaluru with two people testing positive for it comprising a South African national of Indian origin and a doctor.
The B.1.640.2 variant has been reported by researchers at institute IHU Mediterranee Infection in at least 12 cases, and has been linked to travel to African country Cameroon.
As many as 300 districts in India are reporting weekly COVID case positivity of more than five per cent, the Union government said on Wednesday as it warned against treating the infection due to the Omicron variant as common cold and urged people to get vaccinated.
Speaking to reporters, Mumbai Congress president Bhai Jagtap said the decision to defer the rally was taken after holding discussions with state officials and senior party leaders in New Delhi.
According to the latest data available from the Centre and the states in the night, the total number of Omicron cases in the country was around 1,200.
A woman contact of an Omicron case in Rajasthan has been found COVID-19 positive in Delhi and is being shifted to the Lok Nayak Hospital, officials said on Friday.
'The pandemic ends only when 70 per cent of the world is vaccinated with two doses.'
In view of Omicron variant of COVID-19, the Centre on Friday urged the private health sector to be ready as it has to play an important role in managing the pandemic.
Most of those who tested positive either recently arrived from African countries or were in contact with such people.
Genome sequencing has confirmed that the nine people have been infected with the new variant, Health Secretary Vaibhav Galriya said.
Omicron has been detected in Maharashtra (20), Rajasthan (9), Karnataka (3), Gujarat (4), Kerala (1) and Andhra Pradesh (1) and Union Territories of Delhi (2) and Chandigarh (1).
Amid the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said self-awareness and self-discipline are the country's strengths in fighting against the novel variant of the COVID.
The Omicron variant carries 'concerning' mutations that may make it more transmissible and allow it to evade immunity, scientists said on Monday, stressing that the one certainty in the uncertainty of the many things unknown is this -- COVID is not a short-term crisis and vaccines are still a critical tool.
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.
The government on Friday warned about the declining compliance to mask usage in the country amid concerns over the Omicron variant of the coronavirus and urged people to follow COVID-appropriate behaviour and get vaccinated to prevent surge in cases.
Intensifying screening of international passengers at airports, asking educational institutions to postpone their public events, and limiting gatherings, meetings, conferences to 500 people, are among the other measures announced by the government.
The Centre on Thursday advised states slated to hold assembly polls in the next few months to ramp up COVID vaccination exponentially to protect the vulnerable population given the steady rise in cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus in India.
Maharashtra reported seven new cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus on Friday including a three-and-half-year-old girl which took the tally of such infections to 17, the state health department said.
The economic impact of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 on emerging economies will depend on a mix of government restrictions, public comfort with social interactions, and capacity of governments and central banks to provide additional policy support to the private sector, Moody's Investors Service said on Wednesday. The emergence of the new variant poses new risks to the global economic growth and inflation outlook, as concerns mount about the variant's health risks and several countries have imposed new travel restrictions in recent days. These restrictions will likely increase over the coming weeks until scientists learn more about the variant, it said.
The BMC told the bench that it was adequately prepared to tackle the current situation
The World Health Organisation on Monday warned that the global risk from the Omicron variant is "very high" based on early evidence, saying the mutated coronavirus could lead to surges with "severe consequences."
The patient is currently admitted to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital and has mild symptoms, hospital officials said.
Out of the total 190 samples, 180 (94.74 per cent) were found infected with Omicron, three with the Delta variant (1.58 per cent), one with Delta (0.53 per cent) and six with other strains of coronavirus (3.16 per cent), a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) release said, citing test results of the ninth round of genome sequencing in the city.
The official said the doctor is under isolation, but he is asymptomatic.
Despite fears of the Omicron variant, business activity touched an all-time high since the onset of the pandemic for the week ended December 12, a Japanese brokerage said on Monday. The Nomura India Business Resumption Index (NIBRI), which compares the activity for a particular week as against the one before the onset of the pandemic, rose to 115.8 from the 112.9 for the previous week. "Despite Omicron risks, neither policy restrictions nor public fear factor appear to have had any impact on mobility so far, which is supporting a further normalisation in services," it said in a statement.
Asserting that the present situation is not alarming, the minister said the emphasis should be more on COVID-19 appropriate behaviour and people should come forward to get vaccinated to shield themselves from Coronavirus and its variants.
A jump in COVID-19 hospitalisations of children in New York has sparked concerns in California amid a surge in Omicron variant infections.
The UK cabinet is on Monday holding talks to consider options for tougher lockdown restrictions as the country recorded another daily high of Omicron cases at 12,133.
With the reporting of Omicron, a highly mutated variant of SARSCoV-2 virus and its classification as a Variant of Concern (VoC) by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Union Ministry of Health revised its 'Guidelines for international arrivals', Mandaviya said in a written reply.
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.
In order to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, the West Bengal government on Thursday announced that it has suspended all the flights coming to Kolkata airport from the United Kingdom from January 3 onwards till further notice.
Cases with the Omicron variant have already been detected in Karnataka and Gujarat.
In view of the rising Omicron threat, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that the state government has decided to strengthen the home isolation module since the new variant of COVID-19 causes mild infection.
Pfizer's chief executive Dr Albert Bourla told the BBC that he is of the view that annual vaccinations would be needed to maintain a "very high level of protection" against the deadly disease that has claimed over five million lives across the world.
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) in a statement urged world leaders not to implement 'knee-jerk' policy decisions in response to the detection of the Omicron variant.
A total of 2,969 flight cancellations and 11,512 flight delays worldwide on Tuesday, with 1,172 of the cancellations and 5,458 of the delays occurring within, into, or out of the US, according to the flight-tracking website FlightAware.
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