Covid-19: 25 Omicron cases detected, all with mild symptoms, says govt

Health officials were regularly meeting to keep a watch on Omicron in India and across the globe, Bhargava said. District-level restrictions would have to implemented where test positivity rate is more than 5%, Bhargava said. There are 26 such districts in the country.

Twenty-five cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 have been detected across five states in the country, the government said on Friday.

“Twenty-five instances of the Omicron variant have been reported in India. Ten of them are in Maharashtra, nine in Rajasthan, three in Gujarat, two in Karnataka, and one in Delhi,” joint secretary in the Union health ministry Lav Agarwal said at a press conference. “Omicron cases detected comprise less 0.04% of the cases of different variants detected. All detected Omicron cases have mild symptoms,” he added.

Dr Balram Bhargava, director-general, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said clinically, the Omicron variant was not yet posing a burden on the country’s healthcare system, but vigil needs to be maintained.

Health officials were regularly meeting to keep a watch on Omicron in India and across the globe, Bhargava said. District-level restrictions would have to implemented where test positivity rate is more than 5%, Bhargava said. There are 26 such districts in the country.

Omicron has been detected in 59 countries with 2,936 confirmed cases and 78,064 probable cases across the globe, according to health ministry data.

VK Paul, member, health, NITI Aayog, expressed serious concern over the decline in usage of masks in the country. “We are in a dangerous zone from the point of view of protection capability and are now operating at an unacceptable risky level,” Paul warned. “Masks cannot be done away with and masks were effective against all variants,” he added. Regarding booster shots, Paul said the existing vaccine protocol would continue and the target would be to achieve full vaccination for the entire adult population with both doses.

Samples of the Omicron variant have been sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, which will test the efficacy of both Covishield and Covaxin on the new variant.

The country has administered 132 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses and vaccinated 86.2% of adults with the first dose of the vaccine and 53.5% have received both doses, the government said.

–With PTI inputs