Coronavirus Highlights: Haryana Imposes New Covid Curbs In 5 Districts Amid Omicron Scare
Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Maharashtra recorded 8,067 new coronavirus cases on Friday, 50 per cent more than the day before, along with eight fatalities.
Kerala on Saturday recorded 2,435 fresh coronavirus cases and 22 COVID-19 related deaths, taking the caseload to 52,40,487 and the death toll to 48,035.
"Currently, there are 18,904 active COVID-19 cases in the state of which only 10.7 per cent are admitted to hospitals," the health department said in a release.
Rajasthan, on Saturday, reported 52 new cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, ANI reported. All patients who have tested positive for Omicron have been kept in isolation. With this, total tally of Omicron cases have risen to 121.
West Bengal Power Minister Aroop Biswas was hospitalised on Saturday after he tested positive for COVID-19.
"He has mild symptoms and he is being administered antibodies. His oxygen levels are being monitored, and it is yet to be decided whether to send his samples for genome sequencing," an official told PTI.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan writes to chief secretaries of all States/UTs on measures to deal with a possible surge in COVID cases; advises them to initiate process of setting up makeshift hospitals & constitute special teams to monitor patients in home isolation, ANI reported.
Over 90 residents of a village in Madhya Pradesh's Neemuch district got their heads tonsured and held a mass feast at a temple to thank the deity for ensuring "zero fatality" due to COVID-19 in their village in the year 2021.
The ritual was held on Friday to fulfil the vow taken by villagers at the Devnarayan temple when the pandemic was at its peak, a resident said.
Villagers, including women, took out a procession in Devri Khawasa village in the Neemuch district, around 400 km away from Bhopal. They danced to the tune of religious songs while holding religious flags in their hands.
About 25-30 villagers were infected when the coronavirus pandemic was at its peak. At that time, people had taken a 'Mannat' (vow) in the ancient temple of Devnarayan ji to tonsure their heads and hold a 'bhandara' (mass feast) if no fatality is reported due to the pandemic in 2021, Ambalal Patidar, a villager, told reporters.
India saw a single-day rise of 22,775 new COVID-19 cases, highest since October 6, while the number of active cases surpassed one lakh and Omicron infection tally reached 1,431, the Union Health Ministry said on Saturday.
India logged 161 fresh Omicron infections, taking the total tally of such cases in the country to 1,431.
Of the 1,431 patients infected with the Omicron variant of the virus so far, 374 have either recuperated or migrated, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 am.
The country also recorded 22,775 fresh COVID-19 cases and 406 more fatalities due to the viral disease.
Maharashtra recorded the maximum number of 454 new cases followed by Delhi at 351, Kerala 118 and Gujarat 115.
Nashik | A total of 10 ministers and over 20 MLA's have tested positive for COVID19 in Maharashtra, says Deputy CM Ajit Pawar
Children aged between 15 and 18 years can now register on the CoWIN portal and the vaccine option for them would only be Covaxin. According to the guidelines, which will come into effect from January 3, those aged 15 and above will be able to register on CoWIN. In other words, "all those whose birth year is 2007" or before, shall be eligible.
An additional provision has been made on CoWIN through which students can register for vaccination on the portal using their student identity cards as some may not have Aadhaar or other ID cards, Sharma said.
The beneficiaries (aged 15-18 years) can register themselves online through an existing account on Co-WIN or by creating a new account through a unique mobile number. This facility is available for all eligible citizens presently.
With rapid rise in coronavirus cases in the national capital, the number of containment zones has also increased by more than eight times from the beginning of this month.
Delhi has been battling a rise in Omicron cases and currently has 320 cases with experts warning that the numbers are expected to soar with each passing day.
On December 1, when the national capital had logged 39 infections in a single day, the number of containment zones stood at 102. Cut to December 30, the number of containment zones has increased to 823, while single-day infections have risen to 1,313.
South district has the maximum number of active containment zones at 402, followed by west at 108 and New Delhi at 84 zones. Northeast district has zero active containment zones, with only 53 active cases. East district has six active containment zones, while the central district has 18 such zones.
Southwest, northwest and Shahdara districts have less than 50 active containment zones at 33, 26 and 30, respectively. New Delhi, North and southeast districts have 84, 62 and 54 active containment zones, respectively.
Within a span of 10 days, the containment zones have multiplied by five times, official data said.
Tamil Nadu on Friday reported a surge in new cases of Omicron with 76 cases being infected with the new variant of the coronavirus. With this, the total infected was 120 thereby breaching the triple digit-mark in the State, the Health Department said.
Till Thursday, the total cases stood at 46.
According to a bulletin here, the department received 115 results of the 117 samples which were sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, after they were detected with 'S' gene drop variant.
'S' gene drop detection in a sample is believed that the person might be infected with Omicron.
The bulletin said, "Of the 115 results received, 74 have been identified as Omicron variant and 41 as Delta variant." Results of the two samples were yet to be received, it said.
"With the existing 46 infections already declared, the addition of the 74 cases identified in the present set through whole genomic sequencing, the total Omicron cases is 120," the bulletin said.
Background
Coronavirus LIVE UPDATES: The Union Health Ministry wrote to states advising that anyone with fever, headache, sore throat, breathlessness, bodyache, recent loss of taste or smell, fatigue, and diarrhea should be considered a suspect case of Covid-19.
The letter, written by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and ICMR DG Dr Balram Bhargava, was to chief secretaries of all states/UTs.
"Set up round the clock functional RAT booths at different locations, engage medical and paramedical staff, and encourage the use of home test kits," the letter said.
"Any individual presenting with fever with/without cough, headache, sore throat, breathlessness, body ache, the recent loss of taste or smell, fatigue, and diarrhea should be considered as a suspect case of COVID-19 unless proven otherwise," it further said.
The Health Ministry said that all those with symptoms should "immediately isolate themselves and follow home isolation guidelines".
State-Wise COVID Update
Maharashtra
Maharashtra recorded 8,067 new coronavirus cases on Friday, 50 per cent more than the day before, and eight fatalities, the state health department said.
The new cases included four Omicron variant infections, it added.
On Thursday, the state had reported 5,368 new coronavirus cases. "Today, four cases of Omicron have been reported in the state, one each from Vasai-Virar, Navi Mumbai, Mira-Bhayander and Panvel," the official release said.
Delhi
Delhi on Friday recorded 1,796 fresh Covid cases, the highest single-day rise since May 22, and zero death while the positivity rate mounted to 2.44 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department.
On Thursday, 1,313 cases were recorded with a positivity rate of 1.73 per cent, according to official figures. The daily cases count had breached the 1000-mark after a gap of seven months.
The daily cases count surged to 1,796 on Friday with an increased positivity rate of 2.44 per cent, as per the latest health bulletin.
This single-day rise is the highest since May 22 when 2,260 cases were logged with a positivity rate of 3.58 per cent. As many as 182 deaths were also recorded on that day.
The huge spike in fresh cases over the past few days here is being recorded amid a significant jump in cases of the new Omicron variant of Covid in Delhi.
West Bengal
West Bengal, which is witnessing a sudden spurt in Covid-19 cases from the beginning of this week, recorded 3,451 infections on Friday with Kolkata alone accounting for 1,954 or 56 per cent of these, a Health department bulletin said.
The state had recorded 2,128 Covid-19 cases on Thursday, with the metropolis accounting for 1,090 of that. While the state's fresh infections shot up by 62 per cent in the last 24 hours, the eastern metropolis's new Covid cases went up by 79 per cent.
Compared to Wednesday the fresh infection numbers for Kolkata were almost four-times, alarming health administrators. The city had let down its guard in recent days with merry-makers thronging the streets and the city's clubs and restaurants on Christmas eve.
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu on Friday reported a surge in new cases of Omicron with 76 cases being infected with the new variant of the coronavirus. With this, the total infected was 120 thereby breaching the triple digit-mark in the State, the Health Department said.
Till Thursday, the total cases stood at 46.
According to a bulletin here, the department received 115 results of the 117 samples which were sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, after they were detected with 'S' gene drop variant.
'S' gene drop detection in a sample is believed that the person might be infected with Omicron.
The bulletin said, "Of the 115 results received, 74 have been identified as Omicron variant and 41 as Delta variant." Results of the two samples were yet to be received, it said.
"With the existing 46 infections already declared, the addition of the 74 cases identified in the present set through whole genomic sequencing, the total Omicron cases is 120," the bulletin said.
While the new infections recorded a rise, the recoveries also grew with 66 people getting discharged from hospitals.
As on date, the Omicron cases under treatment was 52, the bulletin said.
Chennai topped the list of districts with Omicron with 95 cases followed by Chengalpet five, Madurai four, Thiruvallur three. Places like Salem, Thiruvarur, Coimbatore, Pudukottai, Thanjavur, Tiruchirappalli, Ranipet, reported one case each, the bulletin said.
The number of coronavirus deaths in the national capital, logged in the month of December, stands at nine, the highest in the last four months.
The death toll due to the coronavirus infection in Delhi stands at 25,107.
On Wednesday, Tuesday and Monday the daily cases tally had stood at 923; 496 and 331 cases respectively, as per official data.
The number of cumulative cases on Monday stood at 14,48,211. Over 14.18 lakh patients have recovered from the infection.
Seven COVID-19 deaths were reported here in November this year, according to official data. Delhi had recorded four Covid deaths in October and five in September.
A total of 73,590 tests -- 62,812 RT-PCR tests and 10,778 rapid antigen tests -- were conducted a day ago, the bulletin said.
Kerala
Kerala on Friday logged 2,676 fresh COVID-19 infections and 353 deaths, which took the caseload to 52,35,348 and the fatalities to 47,794.
Of the 353 deaths, 11 were recorded over the last few days and 342 designated as COVID-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the directions of the Supreme Court.
With 2,742 more people recovering from the virus since Thursday, the total recoveries reached 51,79,277 and the active cases dropped to 19,416, an official press release said.
Among the 14 districts, Ernakulam recorded the highest with 503 fresh cases, followed by Thiruvananthapuram (500) and Kozhikode (249).
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