Coronavirus Highlights: 6,990 New Cases In India, Lowest Daily Rise Since May Last Year

The new deaths were reported from Hoshiarpur, Patiala and Mohali.

At present, there are 7,555 active infections.

As many as 942 patients were discharged from hospitals, taking the cumulative recoveries to 64,83,435. The death toll reached 1,40,997.

While no death was reported during the day, only three fatalities due to the pandemic were reported in the state in November.

The COVID-19 death toll remained unchanged at 13,593 as no fresh fatality was reported during the day.

The night curfew has been in force in eight cities from 1 am to 5 am since November 1. The curfew timings were reduced by two hours in November for Diwali and Chhath Puja and due to a drop in daily COVID-19 cases.

For the last three days, Delhi had been reporting a fatality due to the viral infection.The national capital has recorded seven deaths due to the infection in November so far. Four people had succumbed to the viral disease in October and five in September.

The day also saw 745 discharges, taking the total number of recoveries in the state so far to 29,51,492, a health department bulletin said. Bengaluru Urban continued to top the list in number of cases (185), as the city saw 654 discharges and 6 deaths.

The Government of India continues to keep a close watch on the COVID-19 situation in the country as well as across the globe, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said in written response to a question.

Talking to reporters after visiting a vaccination booth, the Lt Governor said she had held discussions with officials of the Department of Health and also representatives of private medical colleges earlier at her office.

Of the fresh cases, 32 were from the Jammu division and 139 from the Kashmir division of the union territory, they said.

Srinagar district recorded the highest number of fresh cases at 62, followed by 42 in Baramulla district.

First reported to the World Health Organization in South Africa less than a week ago, the new strain has rapidly spread from Africa to the Pacific, and from Europe to North America as dozens of countries have announced travel restrictions.

One person has died of Covid in the capital city Leh, taking the total death count to 214 -- 156 in Leh and 58 in Kargil -- since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, they said.

From Tuesday morning, face masks are compulsory on transport and in shops, banks and hair salons.

All international travellers must take a PCR test by the end of the second day after they arrive, and self-isolate until they get their result. That is in addition to restrictions on arrivals from 10 southern African countries, who have to enter hotel quarantine.

Britain has reported 11 cases of the Omicron variant so far, and while the government says this number will rise, it says it is important to slow its spread until more is known about the variant's tranmissibility and impact on vaccines.

Speaking to the European Parliament, European Medicines Agency (EMA) executive director Emer Cooke said it was not known if drugmakers would need to tweak their vaccines to protect against Omicron, but the EMA was preparing for that possibility.

Although China has largely quashed the coronavirus within its borders through travel restrictions and snap lockdowns, recurrent domestic outbreaks linked to the Delta variant have put the authorities on high alert.

"I think it will definitely lead to challenges linked to prevention and control," foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said, adding that Beijing "appreciates the efforts by South Africa in offering timely information" on the variant.

"But China has a lot of experience in responding to Covid-19," Zhao added. "I firmly believe the Winter Olympics will be conducted smoothly."

China is determined to pull off a smooth Olympic Games unmarred by Covid-19, in what would be a decisive propaganda win for Beijing's zero-tolerance Covid strategy.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan chaired a high-level virtual meeting with states and Union Territories to review COVID-19 public health response measures and preparedness amid cases of potentially more contagious Omicron variant of COVID19 being reported across various countries.

Noting the critical role of vaccination as a powerful defence against COVID-19, the 'Har Ghar Dastak' vaccination campaign has been extended till 31st December with a focus on 100 per cent first dose coverage, and completing the backlog of second dose vaccination, the Ministry said in a statement after the meeting.

Public health officials aim to analyse positive tests from airports within 48 hours and more than a dozen state-funded laboratories may be added to the current 38 that are part of the Indian SARs-COV-2 Genomics Consortium, or INSACOG, according to Priya Abraham, director of the India's National Institute of Virology.

"We learnt a lot from the second wave," Ms Abraham, whose institution has been instrumental in detecting and mapping Covid in India, said in an interview. "The country as a whole and the government of India realizes this capacity has to be exponentially expanded."

However, concerns remain about gaps in India's overall Covid-19 surveillance, especially given its past track record of lax imposition of testing and isolation protocols ahead of the emergence of the newest variant.

The coronavirus death count remained unchanged at 280 as no fresh fatality was registered, State Surveillance Officer (SSO) Dr Lobsang Jampa said.

While underlining that the new variant doesn''t escape RT-PCR and RAT tests, Bhushan asked states and UTs to ensure adequate infrastructure and supervised home isolation, a Union Health Ministry official said.

No case of COVID19 variant #Omicron reported in India so far: Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya said in Rajya Sabha during Question Hour

Source: Sansad TV pic.twitter.com/89sFr7uij1

- ANI (@ANI) November 30, 2021

As per the order issued by the Health and Family Department of the Delhi government, the decision has been taken following the new guidelines by the Central government for international travellers in the context of the new variant.

The ICMR (Indian Council for Medical Research) report on the sample of one of the two South Africa returnees, who tested COVID-19 positive with features "different from the Delta variant" of the virus is expected in the next two to three days, Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said on Tuesday.

The Tamil Nadu government on Monday said no case of the latest variant of coronavirus, ''Omicron'', has been detected in the state so far and insisted that surveillance has been stepped up across the airports to prevent its spread here.

On Monday, the state logged 730 new COVID-19 cases and nine deaths.