India Reports Highest Single Day Rise Of Omicron Cases. Govt Warns Against Non-Essential Travel | Key points

Lav Agrawal, Joint Secretary, Union Health Ministry, said there is no evidence to suggest that vaccines are not effective against the Omicron variant.

Covid-19 being administered to a healthcare worker (PTI)

New Delhi: India recorded 24 Omicron cases on Friday, the highest single day rise of the new variant. The Omicron tally from 11 states rose to 111 nearly two weeks after the first case was detected in Karnataka.

The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has urged people to avoid non-essential travel and mass gatherings besides observing low-intensity festivities.

“This is the time to avoid non-essential travel, mass gatherings and it is very important to observe low-intensity festivities,” Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Balram Bhargava said.

Maharashtra has reported 40 cases, Delhi (22), Rajasthan (17), Karnataka (8), Telangana (8), Gujarat (5), Kerala (7), Andhra Pradesh (1), Chandigarh (1), Tamil Nadu (1) and West Bengal (1), PTI reported.

Lav Agrawal, Joint Secretary, Union Health Ministry, said there is no evidence to suggest that vaccines are not effective against the Omicron variant.

The ICMR DG on his part said scientific data is still not supported in a big way that the pills will be useful at the moment.

“We have been discussing these anti-viral COVID19 pills. We have found that these pills need to be given very early, even before the diagnosis of the disease,” he added.

Commenting on the Omicron threat, Dr V.K. Paul, Member (Health), Niti Aayog, said a new phase of the Covid-19 pandemic is being experienced in Europe with a steep rise in cases.

Citing the World Health Organization (WHO), the government said Omicron is spreading faster than Delta variant of coronavirus in South Africa where Delta circulation was low.

Quoting the WHO, the government added it is likely that Omicron spread will outpace Delta variant where community transmission occurs, PTI reported.

The government said that 19 districts reported weekly Covid positivity between five to ten percent and five districts reported over ten percent.

The Joint Secretary informed that new daily Covid-19 cases were recorded below 10,000 for the past 20 days.

“The case positivity for the last one week was 0.65%. Currently, Kerala contributes 40.31% to the total number of active cases in the country,” he added, ANI reported.

Agrawal said India is administering the Covid-19 vaccine doses at the highest rate in the world, adding the daily rate of doses administered is 4.8 times the rate of doses administered in the United States and 12.5 times the rate of doses administered in the United Kingdom.

State-Wise Omicron Tally:

Out of the 109 Omicron cases detected across India, Maharashtra alone has 40 infections, as per the Health Ministry data. On Friday evening, the state reported 8 new cases of Omicron, taking the state's overall tally to 40. 

Delhi has so far reported 22 cases of the Omicron variant.

Rajasthan has reported 17 cases of the Omicron variant, while Karnataka and Telangana have eight infections each. Five cases each have also been reported in Gujarat and Kerala.

Besides, the states of Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have reported one case each of the Omicron variant.