As India braces for the rapid spread of the new variant, with cases rising to 236 as on Thursday, the Centre on Thursday decided to send teams to States with low vaccination, rising cases and inadequate health infrastructure. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a review meeting with senior officials and health experts on the Covid-19 situation.

Fresh cases of Omicron were reported in Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Odisha. Earlier in the day, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan urged States to adhere strictly to local curbs and restrictions for a minimum of 14 days.

This is the first time Uttarakhand (1), J&K (3), Odisha (2) and Ladakh (1) have reported Omicron infections. Maharashtra and Delhi had the highest number of Omicron cases at 65 and 64, respectively, followed by Telangana at 24, Rajasthan at 21 and Karnataka at 19. India’s Covid tally increased to 7,495 on Thursday from Wednesday’s 6,317. Delhi recorded 125 cases on Wednesday evening, the highest in six months. However, no casualty was reported. In Maharashtra, the daily infections stood at 1,201 with eight casualties.

Home isolation module

With a hope and prayer that “it would not be like the second wave”, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the capital is prepared to do 3 lakh tests and treat one lakh patients daily although the preparations are centred around developing a home isolation module.

“Omicron spreads very fast but has mild symptoms. So we would advise people to stay at home even if they test positive. A Delhi Government team would visit homes and distribute medical kits and tele-counselling would be done every day,” Kejriwal said.

Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel held a review meeting on the state of preparedness. “We are conducting 100 per cent RT-PCR tests on passengers arriving from at-risk countries. Those found positive are admitted to wards and those testing negative are advised 7-day home isolation. They are tested again on the third and fifth day against the earlier fourth and eight day to contain the spread of the infection,” said Manoj Aggarwal, Additional Chief Secretary, Health.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar warned of imposing night lockdowns if the numbers continue to rise.

Telangana HC intervenes

Meanwhile in Telangana, the High Court disposed of a bunch of petitions flagging lack of preventive measures to check the fast-spreading Omicron and directed the State government to impose curbs on gatherings during Christmas, New Year and Sankranti.

Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra have already brought in curbs on mass gatherings.

In Karnataka, State Health Minister K Sudhakar said Bengaluru urban district was the first district in Karnataka to achieve 100 per cent coverage of the second dose vaccine. The State has already banned mass gatherings for celebrations around the New Year. For Christmas, while religious festivities are being permitted within churches, large gatherings have been banned. All restaurants, pubs, and bars have been permitted to operate only at 50 per cent capacity for the double-vaccinated from December 30 to January 2. Apartment complexes have also been barred from having special New Year celebrations.

33 cases in TN

Tamil Nadu Health & Family Welfare minister Ma Subramanian said 33 people tested positive for the Omicron variant. Of these, 26 were in Chennai, four in Madurai, two in Tiruvannamalai and one in Salem. “All the patients are stable and under isolation,” the Minister said.

India's active caseload stood at 78,291. The weekly positivity rate was at 0.59 per cent, remaining less than 1 per cent for the last 39 days. The daily positivity rate stood at 0.62 per cent, staying below 2 per cent for the last 80 days and below 3 per cent for 115 consecutive days.

(With inputs from Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai Bureaus)

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