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prompt and effective contact tracing, ramping up of testing, accelerating vaccination and strengthening health infrastructure.
India has recorded 236 cases of the Omicron variant across 16 states and UTs so far out of which 104 people have recovered or migrated, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.
Maharashtra has reported 23 fresh cases of Omicron in the last 24 hours. CM Uddhav Thackeray will hold a review meeting at 10 pm with the Task Force regarding the Covid situation in the state.
Amid Omicron concerns, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced to clamp night curfew from 11pm to 5am in the wake of the rising Covid cases in MP. Schools will operate at 50 per cent attendance, the state government order said.
Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said they have created a capacity to conduct 3 lakh tests daily. “With our preparations, we can handle as many as 1 lakh daily cases if such a situation arises. We’re strengthening our home isolation management protocol,” he said on Omicron threat.
He also added that his government is increasing “our manpower, stocking medicines for the coming few months”. “We are arranging medical oxygen and 15 oxygen tankers will be delivered to us in the next 3 weeks,” he said.
The Centre asked states to not let their guard down during a review meeting in view of Omicron variant. The centre and states discussed COVID-19 status and preparedness. States have been advised to be vigilant and monitor case positivity, doubling rate, clusters of new cases across districts. “Observe all precautions; don’t let your guard down,” Centre told states.
India registered 7,495 fresh Covid-19 cases and 434 deaths in the last 24 hours, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) said on Thursday morning. With the addition of fresh fatalities, the death toll has mounted to 4,78,759.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday evening will chair a review meeting on the Covid-19 situation in the country as Omicron spreads rapidly. Earlier, the PM sat on a similar review meeting in November end.
Meanwhile, Oxford University and the AstraZeneca Plc have begun work to produce an Omicron-targeted version of their coronavirus vaccine. A research group leader at Oxford, Sandy Douglas, told the paper that preliminary steps in producing the updated vaccine have been taken in case it is needed, together with their partners AstraZeneca.
“Adenovirus-based vaccines [such as that made by Oxford/AstraZeneca] could in principle be used to respond to any new variant more rapidly than some may previously have realised.”
Fourteen more Omicron cases have been reported in Telangana, taking the total number of cases of the new coronavirus variant in the State to 38, the State Health Department said on Wednesday. Of the 14 cases, 12 are passengers who arrived at the international airport from countries other than those declared at risk by the Centre, while two are from “at risk” countries, it said in a bulletin.
Two foreign returnees, who had tested positive for COVID-19, on Wednesday were found to have been infected by the Omicron variant, a senior health official said. One of them had returned from Nigeria and the other from United Kingdom, he said.
Nine people, including six women, were found infected with the Omicron variant of coronavirus in Gujarat on Wednesday, officials of the state health Department said. With this, the state’s overall count of Omicron cases has reached 23. Of these patients, four have already been discharged from hospitals following their recovery, while 19 are undergoing treatment.
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