Coronavirus Highlights: India Reports 6,358 New Covid Cases, Omicron Cases At 653

Citing the Tamil Nadu government advisory against crowding as coronavirus, including its Omicron strain, may spread, city Police Commissioner Shankar Jiwal advised people against crowding to ring in 2022.

Despite infection rates going down with some 9,213 positive tests reported on Tuesday -- compared to 11,495 a day before -- the highly contagious strain "will lead to additional infections in the coming period," the National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) said.

As per a release from the state government, he has instructed all the District Magistrates to take special steps for the protection and safety of people against COVID-19 and its recently-discovered Omicron variant.

More than 57 lakh (57,76,358) vaccine doses have been administered till 7 pm.

The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late night, the ministry said.

In a statement, the NIH said that the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination (NHSRC), the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) and the provincial departments were vigilantly keeping an eye on Omicron cases in Pakistan ever since it was designated a variant of concern by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dawn reported.

Of the seven cases, four were detected in Pathanamthitta, two in Alappuzha and one in Thiruvananthapuram, the department said in a release.

Some 11,500 flights have been scrapped worldwide since Friday and tens of thousands more delayed, during one of the year's busiest travel periods -- with multiple airlines saying spikes in cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant have caused staffing shortages.

China put hundreds of thousands more people under lockdown, while infections hit new highs in multiple US states and European countries.

Covid-19 surges have wreaked havoc around the world, with many nations trying to strike a balance between economically punishing restrictions and controlling the spread of the virus.

The United States has halved the isolation period for asymptomatic cases to try and blunt the disruption, while France has ordered firms to have employees work from home at least three days a week.

The infected students were fully vaccinated, he said.

"All students are largely asymptomatic and stable. As a precaution they have been admitted to the hospital attached to the college," said Dean Dr Sudhir Nanandkar.

"The infection was reported in one section of the hostel as students used to gather for meals in the mess," he said.

Dr Pramod Gautam, the genome analyst at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences or ILBS said, "Omicron cases are increasing without a doubt. Two weeks ago some 2-3 per cent of the samples we sequenced were positive for Omicron, but now 25-30% of cases are Omicron."

He, however, added that the increase in percentage may also be due to more rigorous sequencing, since the labs were only sequencing international travellers initially.

The ILBS is currently running genome analysis for every positive sample from South Delhi district. The lab also analyses a chunk of positive samples from four other districts.

The global financial hub has identified several dozen Omicron infections via regular testing during quarantine but neither Omicron, nor other variants, have spread into the community in recent months.

But some of the new infections with Omicron were detected among air crew, who had only been required to quarantine at home, unlike most other people returning to the city, who have to quarantine in hotels.

The new measures require that returning air cargo crew spend three days in hotel quarantine before a period of home isolation. Most recent infections of air crew staff have been discovered in the first three days.

The nine new cases were identified at the end of the examination of 2,265 samples and were spread over Puducherry (two), Karaikal (four) and Mahe (three). Yanam region, an enclave in Andhra Pradesh did not report any fresh case of infection in the last 24 hours.

According to Union Ministry of Health, India's recovery rate stands at 98.40 per cent, the highest since March 2020.

Sustained and collaborative efforts by the Centre and the States/UTs continue the trend of less than 15,000 daily new cases that are being reported for the last 61 days now.

As many as 6,358 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours.

Delhi's positivity rate, which remained above the critical 0.5 percent mark for the second straight day today at 0.68 percent, may trigger the Yellow Alert in the national capital. Most activities that were resumed in phases as the second wave waned will come to a grinding halt if the alert is sounded.

Under the Delhi government's four-stage Graded response Action Plan (GRAP), approved by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority in July in anticipation of the third wave of Covid, the alert will put into effect a host of additional curbs. The city government is yet to take a decision on this.

Here's What #Delhi Will Shut Down If #YellowAlert Is Declared Over #COVID19

Read more: https://t.co/gODSkkPYkbpic.twitter.com/Yy8YX4V6PL

- NDTV (@ndtv) December 28, 2021