Surge in COVID-19 cases in India as Omicron starts replacing Delta variant

New Delhi: With the Union Health Ministry noting a surge in COVID-19 cases across the country, official sources have said that the reason behind the spike is the Omicron variant which has started replacing its predecessor Delta in India and the world.

As per the sources, Omicron variant infections account for around 80 per cent of COVID-19 cases detected among international travellers.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has been holding a review meeting daily over the COVID-19 situation since November 25 with all officials and public health experts.

“The trend of an increasing number of COVID-19 cases shows that it is due to Omicron, which is replacing Delta in India and globally as well,” official sources told ANI.

However, most of the patients infected with Omicron are asymptomatic and some of them are mildly symptomatic, they added.

Since the first two cases of Omicron were reported in India on December 2, the Union Health Ministry has been working in a mission mode and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also monitoring the situation closely.

“The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s war room is dedicatedly working 24x7, even at night senior officers are monitoring, analyzing and reviewing the situation, the trends and surge in cases,” said sources.

The ministry has advised States and Union Territories to enhance testing, strengthen hospital preparedness, increase vaccination pace and strict restrictions to counter the spread of infection.

As per Union Health Ministry’s data, 67.76 crore samples have been tested for COVID-19 in India till December 30, 2021. There are 3,117 COVID-19 testing laboratories including 2,014 RTPCR, 941 antibody test, 132 CBNAAT and 30 others, across the country.

The country has 204 firms making RT-PCR test kits, 53 making rapid antigen kits, seven manufacturing home rapid antigen testing kits and four are in pipeline. India’s daily testing capacity is more than 2 million.

Meanwhile, over 145 vaccine doses have been administered to the eligible population in India so far.

India has covered 90 per cent single dose in adults and 65 per cent of the eligible population are fully vaccinated with both doses.

The vaccination drive in India commenced on January 16, 2021.

Kerala logs 44 more Omicron cases, tally reaches 107

After recording new highs in daily COVID cases in the country for the past couple of months, Kerala appears to be on course for a similar status with regards to Omicron, as 44 cases of the new variant detected on Friday, the largest single day tally so far.

State Health Minister Veena George said the Omicron tally crossed 100 to reach 107.

“Of the new cases, 10 came from high risk countries, 27 were from low risk countries, while 7 were primary contacts. The new cases were 12 in Ernakulam, 10 in Kollam and eight in Thrissur... All should be very careful as New Year has come. There should be no laxity in ensuring Covid protocols and wearing N 95 masks will be useful,” she said.

“We have decided to see that in the coming two days, special mass vaccination camps will be held for those who are yet to take the second dose. Starting tomorrow (Saturday), online registrations will commence for booking vaccines for those in the age group 15 to 18,” George added.

Since Thursday, night curfew (10pm-5am) has been imposed across the state till January 2 and with the spurt in Omicron cases, it remains to be seen if it will be extended.

Night curfew in Puducherry

As the Omicron cases are rising in the Union Territory of Puducherry, the government has imposed night curfew with immediate effect from 11:00 pm till 5:00 am till January 31, 2022, except on the occasion of Vaikunta Ekadashi.

As per the official order, the government has resorted to night curfew to contain the spread of COVID-19 virus.

The government in a notification said that though the number of fresh positive cases has come down, there is detection of the Variant of Concern (VoC), “Omicron” in the samples from Puducherry.

Hence, it is necessary to keep the vigil on COVID-19 transmission, the official said.

First Omicron case detected in Patna

Amid an ongoing Covid-19 surge, the first case of the new Omicron variant has been detected in Patna on Friday.

The 26-year-old patient, who had recently returned from Delhi, is a resident of Patna’s upscale IAS colony in Kidwaipuri locality.

An official of the committee said that the patient went to Delhi to meet his brother who had returned from England recently and tested Omicron positive.

“The 26-year-old person went to Delhi to know his health status on December 21. When he returned to Patna, he underwent RT-PCR test where he also tested Covid positive. The health department had taken his sample for genome sequencing and sent it to the LCDC lab in Delhi. His report came positive on Thursday evening,” the official said.

“The patient is under home isolation. We have initiated contact tracing to find out others who may have come in contact with him.”

Meanwhile, the health department had detected 60 positive cases on Thursday evening, which increased the active caseload in the state to 333.