The wife and brother-in-law of an NRI man, who had been found infected with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 here in Gujarat a week back, were also detected with the new strain, officials of the Jamnagar Municipal Corporation (JMC) said on Friday.
The Serum Institute of India is the first Indian company to seek approval for the COVID-19 booster dose.
As COVID-19 infections spike in the country resulting in restrictions in various states and impacting the fragile recovery, many economists are expecting RBI to delay the policy normalisation move, which is expected in the February review. The country has reported a single-day rise of 58,097 new Covid-19 cases as of Wednesday morning--the highest in around 199 days -- of which 2,135 are Omicron cases and later in the day, the first confirmed Omicron-related death has also been reported. Maharashtra recorded the maximum number of 653 Omicron cases followed by Delhi at 464, Kerala 185, Rajasthan 174, Gujarat 154 and Tamil Nadu 121 cases, taking the total tally of cases to 3,50,18,358.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), which monitors data related to the pandemic, said the sub-lineage known as BA.2 shows a low number of cases in the country, with the original Omicron lineage BA.1 still dominant.
The chairperson of the South African Medical Association also said existing vaccines will definitely control the contagion but those unvaccinated are at 100 per cent 'risk'.
BA.4 and BA.5 are sub-variants of the highly-transmissible Omicron variant of the virus.
The UK reported 93,045 cases of coronavirus on Friday, another record high for daily infections for the third consecutive day, as Omicron overtook Delta to become the dominant variant in London and Scotland.
People must also avoid mass gatherings, and new year celebrations need to be at low intensity, the government said.
The CJI said that he recovered in four days in the first wave but it's taking a long time in the third wave.
'An individual who maybe has had two vaccines, or has had two vaccines, and a booster, is going to be pretty well protected.'
The new and highly transmissible Omicron variant of the deadly coronavirus has increased immune escape compared with the Delta variant and appears likely to become the dominant SARS-CoV-2 strain globally in 2022, according to Singapore-based experts.
A 35-year-old man with travel history to Zimbabwe and South Africa has tested positive for Omicron, becoming the second patient of the new COVID-19 variant in Delhi, sources said on Saturday.
Two cases of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus have been detected in Karnataka, the Union government said on Thursday while asking people not to panic but follow Covid-appropriate behaviour and get vaccinated without delay.
The yet-to-be peer-reviewed findings, recently posted on the preprint repository BioRxiv, show that the BA.2 sub variant may have features that make it as capable of causing serious illness as older coronavirus variants.
'We are not organising any large celebrations on New Year's Eve to avoid last-minute changes in guidelines.'
The threat of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus has forced Santa to take cover.
For the first time in Maharashtra, four patients of B.A.4 sub-lineage and three cases of B.A.5 sub-lineage of the Omicron variant of coronavirus have been found, the state health department said on Saturday.
Dr Mishra further explained the effect of hybrid immunity on the vaccinated population and said that it is likely to give protection to people along with the Indian vaccines administered.
IndusInd Bank was the top loser, shedding nearly 4 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel, TCS, HCL Tech and Tech Mahindra.
Booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines are the easiest barrier that must be created immediately against Omicron, according to eminent virologist Dr T Jacob John, who noted that it may not seed the third wave of the pandemic, but breakthrough infections may be common due to the new variant.
The 27-year-old Rohini resident, who had tested Covid positive after returning to Delhi from Dubai, said, even after the home isolation restrictions are lifted, 'I have been told that I will be under 14-day observation at home, and doctors will check on me intermittently'.
Antibodies produced by two doses of mRNA vaccines against the original and early variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus wane substantially over time, and offer essentially no protection against Omicron, according to a study that highlights the importance of a booster dose.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday chaired a meeting with chiefs of public sector banks and assessed their readiness to tackle any possible disruptions due to the Omicron variant. In a tweet, the finance ministry said during the meeting with CMDs/MDs, held through virtual mode, the minister also reviewed various steps taken by PSBs in implementing pandemic-related measures initiated by the government and RBI.
He said though there is a spike in new cases, the situation is under control as not many people are developing severe disease or require hospitalisation.
Top officials of health ministry on Thursday informed a parliamentary panel that there are 23 cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19 and authorities are closely monitoring the situation, government sources said.
The Centre has warned it is likely that the spread of the new variant will outpace the Delta variant where there is community transmission.
In the absence of sufficient testing, it is rather impossible to determine the true level of infection spread in the community, Additional Secretary of Union Health Ministry Arti Ahuja said in her letter dated January 5.
While Karnataka reported five new cases, Delhi and Telangana reported four each, and Gujarat reported one fresh case of the Omicron variant.
Tamil Nadu, Telangana and West Bengal reported their first COVID-19 variant Omicron cases on Wednesday, four more persons each tested positive in Maharashtra and Kerala.
As per the document, these 10 states are Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Mizoram, Karnataka, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Punjab.
Growth might be impacted by up to 0.30 per cent in the March quarter as normal economic activities come under pressure due to restrictions being imposed by more states to curb rising Omicron cases, economists at the country's largest private sector lender HDFC Bank said on Tuesday. The economists said they were earlier estimating Q4 growth to come at 6.1 per cent, which can get impacted by 0.2-0.3 per cent because of the Omicron threat. "With states imposing Covid-related restrictions (night curfew on movement of people, restaurants allowed at 50 per cent capacity, offices to operate at 50 per cent capacity in various states), economic activity is likely to get impacted in Q4FY22," they said.
In view of the spike in coronavirus cases and the growing threat of the Omicron variant, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has banned New Year celebration programmes and gatherings in any closed or open areas in the city.
Amid a rise in coronavirus cases and the threat of the Omicron variant, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Wednesday directed district magistrates to ensure no Christmas and New Year gathering takes place in the national capital.
In the advisory, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said States and Union Territories may consider imposing need based, local curbs and restrictions, to control the crowd during the festive season.
"It will not cause another surge. BA.2 is not capable of infecting people who had BA.1. It's not a new virus or strain. BA.2 is a sub-lineage of Omicron," Dr Jayadevan said.
Highlighting that mutation in a virus is a natural phenomenon, the civic body said citizens should do not panic and appealed to them to follow COVID-19-appropriate behaviour.
Core to the planning is the rigidly-enforced closed loop that physically separates Games-related personnel from the local population
Out of two cases of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus that have been detected in Bengaluru, one is a South African national who has left the country after testing negative, while the other is a local with no travel history, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike said on Thursday.
Samples of six other people, who tested positive for the coronavirus after arriving in Kalyan-Dombivli area of Thane district from different countries, have been sent for genome sequencing and the results are awaited, another official said.
The mobile phones of some of these people were switched off while many of the last given addresses were found to be locked.
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