Speaker Om Birla noted that the risk of Omicron infection is increasing in the country. (File)
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday said that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus poses a bigger threat to those who have not yet been inoculated and appealed to such people to get vaccinated immediately.
In a tweet, he also noted that the risk of Omicron infection is increasing in the country. A total of 1,700 cases of the Omicron variant have been detected across 23 states and union territories so far, out of which 639 have recovered or migrated, according to Union health ministry's data updated on Monday.
"The risk of Omicron infection is increasing in the country. This virus is the biggest threat to those who have not yet taken the vaccination. It is my humble request to all those people to get their vaccination done at the nearest health centre immediately," Mr Birla said in a tweet in Hindi.
Maharashtra has recorded the maximum number of Omicron cases at 510, followed by Delhi (351), Kerala (156), Gujarat (136), Tamil Nadu (121) and Rajasthan (120).
India's Covid tally rose to 3,49,22,882 with 33,750 fresh cases, while the active cases increased to 1,45,582, according to the data updated at 8 am.
The death count climbed to 4,81,893 with 123 more fatalities, the data showed.
The active cases have increased to 1,45,582 comprising 0.42 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.20 per cent, the health ministry said.
An increase of 22,781 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)