New Delhi: India has recorded 8,895 fresh covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours with a death toll of 2,796. The active caseload stands at 99,155. The death toll is higher as the reconciled deaths of 2,426 from Bihar have been adjusted in today’s data. And it also includes Kerala’s backlog of 263 deaths, explained the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The recoveries recorded in the last 24 hours were 6,918.
Meanwhile, four Omicron positive cases have been confirmed in India from Karnataka, Mumbai, and Gujarat. The patients have been isolated and their primary and secondary contacts are being traced and tested. The results of all the suspected patients have been sent for genome sequencing and their results are awaited.
Amid the concerns of Omicron spread in the country, many experts have claimed that the virus is only more transmissible, but any deaths due to the new variant have not been reported yet.
Omicron was first detected in South Africa on November 25. After that, it was declared as the “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization. Later on, more countries started reporting cases of the new variant. Till now 38 countries have reported Omicron cases including India.
While the WHO has already warned about the high transmission of the variant, the impact on vaccine efficacy is not known yet. The WHO has said that it may take some more time to identify and study its impact.