New Delhi: The threat of Omicron variants is increasing continuously in the country. In the press conference held on Friday, Health Ministry Secretary Luv Aggarwal said that “So far a total of 101 cases have been reported from 11 states. At the same time, this variant is continuously increasing in other places as well.
Omicron variants at risk in 91 countries
The Ministry of Health reported that “The Omicron variant was reported in 91 countries of the world. The WHO stated that “Omicron is spreading faster than the delta variant in South Africa where the delta circulation was low. It is likely that Omicron will overtake the delta version where community transmission occurs.”
The Health Ministry said, “New daily cases were recorded below 10,000 for the last 20 days. Case positivity was 0.65% from the last 1 week. Presently, Kerala contributes to 40.31% of the total number of active cases in the country.
World’s fastest vaccination
On ongoing immunization in the country, Agarwal said, “India is administering COVID19 vaccine doses at the highest rate in the world and the daily rate of the administered dose is 4.8 times the dose administered in the United States and the rate of the dose administered in the UK. 12.5 times.”
Time to avoid mass gatherings
Balram Bhargava, Director, ICMR on the Omicron variant of COVID19, has advised people not to undertake non-essential travel. “It is time to avoid non-essential travel, mass gatherings and it is very important to observe low-intensity celebrations,” he said.
“Europe is experiencing a new phase of the COVID19 pandemic with a rapid increase in cases,” he said.
Genome sequencing of each sample is not possible
The ICMR chief further said, “Genome sequencing of each sample is not possible. It is a surveillance and epidemic assessment and tracking tool, not yet a diagnostic tool. We can assure that adequate systematic sampling is being done.”
Discussion on anti-viral COVID19 pills
Dr. Bhargava said, “We are discussing these anti-viral COVID19 pills. We have found that these pills need to be given very early in the diagnosis of the disease. Scientific data is still not largely supported that the pills will be useful at this time.”
