Andhra Pradesh Health Minister Satya Kumar Yadav announced the detection of the Omicron RF.5 variant in four COVID-19 samples from Kadapa district, confirmed by genome sequencing in Pune. While the variant is being monitored by WHO and health officials, there is currently no indication it is more dangerous than other Omicron strains, and public vigilance is advised over panic.
'There is no need for panic as there is widespread protective immune memory in the population from vaccination as well as prior infections.'
How Mumbaikars and Delhi-ites are responding to the Omicron threat.
There are 4,026 active cases in India and five fresh deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours.
If the vaccine is recommended for use as a booster against Omicron, it may significantly boost the demand for Covishield in India.
Omicron can evade the immune protection conferred by COVID-19 vaccines and natural infection, according to a peer-reviewed study which also suggests that the new variant of coronavirus is completely resistant to antibody therapies in use today.
The Drugs Controller General of India has approved the manufacture of this Sars-CoV-2 spike protein recombinant nano-particle vaccine for 'examination, test, and analysis', reports Sohini Das.
Mortality rates were 0.7 per cent for Delta, 0.4 per cent for the original Omicron variant and 0.3 per cent for Omicron BA.2.
The weekly epidemiological update by WHO revealed the week of December 20-26 saw the global number of new COVID-19 cases increase by 11 per cent as compared to the previous week.
The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine provides less immunity against Omicron than from other coronavirus variants, according to a lab study that suggests a booster may still provide good protection.
According to central and state officials, omicron cases have been detected in 11 states and union territories -- Maharashtra (54), Delhi (22), Rajasthan (17) and Karnataka (14), Telangana (20), Gujarat (9), Kerala (11), Andhra Pradesh (1), Chandigarh (1), Tamil Nadu (1) and West Bengal (1).
Children who previously had COVID-19 or the inflammatory condition MIS-C are not protected against the Omicron variant of coronavirus, according to a study which found vaccination, however, does afford protection.
As of May 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) classifies LF.7 and NB.1.8 subvariants as Variants Under Monitoring, not as Variants of Concern or Variants of Interest. But these are the variants that are reportedly driving the rise in Covid cases in China and parts of Asia.
'This means that there is a higher likelihood of individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 to be reinfected with the Omicron variant'
In its weekly bulletin of December 27, released on Monday, the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) said global outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 are increasingly shifting from Delta to Omicron.
Amid a rise in Omicron cases, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued an advisory against cybercriminals targeting potential victims by offering them free tests for detecting Omicron variant of COVID-19.
The case has been detected in the US state of California, Top Medical Adviser Anthony Fauci was quoted as saying by CNN.
Russia's Sputnik V vaccine and its one-shot version Sputnik Light booster demonstrates high virus-neutralising activity (VNA) against the highly-contagious Omicron variant of COVID-19, providing a strong defence against severe disease and hospitalisation, according to a study.
'Whether the substantial hybrid immunity present in India can protect against severe consequences of the disease remains to be seen.'
The Omicron variant of COVID-19 is in the community transmission stage in India and it has also become dominant in multiple metros, where new cases have been rising exponentially, said Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium.
The World Health Organisation has said it is 'not yet clear' whether the newly-detected coronavirus variant Omicron is more transmissible or causes more severe disease compared to other variants, including the highly-transmissible and globally prevalent Delta variant.
The yet-to-be peer-reviewed study, posted recently on the preprint repository BioRxiv, found that the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants exhibited more than two-fold longer survival on plastic and skin surfaces, than the Wuhan strain.
The study estimates that the risk of reinfection with the Omicron variant is 5.4 times greater than that of the Delta variant.
Maharashtra has recorded a 17.7 per cent rise in coronavirus cases compared to last week, according to a state health department bulletin.
However, the severity of illness is likely to be much lower, according to a study.
'What prevents infection are masks, physical distancing and good ventilation.'
As many as 141 Mumbai residents who had not traveled abroad recently tested positive for the Omicron variant of coronavirus on Thursday, the civic body said.
Long queues were seen outside walk-in vaccination centres across the UK on Monday as people queued for their booster vaccine doses, even as the government's work from home guidance came in force as part of measures to tackle the "tidal wave" of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
He said stringent curbs have been put in place as part of the Graded Response Action Plan for COVID-19 to check the spread of the infection and the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) will decide on implementing more restrictions.
Omicron has started replacing Delta variant in the country in terms of the number of COVID-19 cases and positive international travellers are almost 80 per cent Omicron now, official sources said on Friday.
"Omicron has been detected in all countries where we have good sequencing and it's likely to be in all countries around the world. It is quickly, in terms of its circulation, overtaking Delta. And so Omicron is becoming the dominant variant that is being detected," Kerkhove said during a virtual questions and answers session.
Scientists have identified antibodies that neutralise Omicron and other variants of coronavirus by targeting areas that remain essentially unchanged as the virus mutates.
"The COVID-19 cases are rising, but hospitalization and deaths are still less," said sources.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday confirmed the UK's first death from the Omicron variant of coronavirus, the first known fatality from the highly transmissible variant of Covid-19 in the world.
The Omicron lineages have been named BA.4 and BA.5.
Omicron is a 'deviant' from the COVID-19 pandemic progression script and so it must be postulated that two pandemics are going on side by side, one by the Delta and close relatives and the other by the latest variant of concern, said noted virologist Dr T Jacob John.
At present, no Omicron variant has been reported in India, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said.
Experts in Singapore, which is seeing a surge in Omicron cases, have warned that the new and supposedly more contagious variant is likely to replace Delta over the coming weeks as the dominant global variant, with the virus being fitter and having a reproductive advantage.
The genomic consortium, citing global data, said there is now clear experimental and clinical data supporting very high immune escape potential of Omicron, which appears to be the major component of its growth advantage over Delta.
No case of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus has been detected in India yet, a senior government official said on Monday.
