The tally of coronavirus infections caused by the Omicron variant has crossed 100 in the country, the Union Health Ministry said in a press briefing on December 17.
The country has so far recorded 101 Omicron cases, across 11 states, said Lav Agrawal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry. The highest number of infections so far, 32, have been detected in Maharashtra.
“Omicron variant reported in 91 countries in the world. WHO has said that Omicron is spreading faster than the Delta variant in South Africa where Delta circulation was low,” Agrawal added.
The infections caused by Omicron appear to be “spreading at a very fast pace”, the officials said, adding that they account for 2.4 percent of all Covid cases being detected in a day.
The Health Ministry urged people to avoid non essential travel, mass gatherings and observe low intensity festivities ahead of new year in view of the emerging risks due to the Omicron variant.
The states need to act proactively to detect the Omicron cases, and the citizens need to add “very responsibly”, Centre’s COVID-19 Task Force chief Dr VK Paul said.
Referring to the record spike in cases in the United Kingdom, Dr Paul suggested that a similar spread in India could prove to be disastrous. “If we do a population level conversion, the 80000 cases in UK would be 14 lakh in India,” he said.
While noting that the situation is currently “stable” in India, Dr Paul stressed that “we need to adopt profound caution”.
“Positivity rates increasing in some areas. If needed, restrictions should be implemented in these areas. States and districts should make efforts to be extra careful in clusters,” he added.
