India reported nine new cases of Omicron on Friday aggregating to 32 cases so far with very mild symptoms. Two new cases were confirmed in Gujarat while seven were reported from Mumbai.
Mild symptoms
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry confirmed that Omicron shows mild symptoms as compared to the Delta variant which still dominates in India.
“All Omicron cases have mild symptoms. These cases are less than 0.04 per cent of total variants detected,” Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry, had said at a press conference here when the cases of Omicron were at 25.
VK Paul, NITI Aayog Member – Health, pointed out the declining usage of masks. He stressed upon taking both vaccine doses to fight against the new Omicron variant of concern.
“It is important to be alert. Though the spread is less due to Omicron, mask-wearing is important for protection. It may cost hugely if one becomes lax in terms of wearing masks. The protocols to be followed against Omicron are the same,” Paul said.
He added Delta is still the predominant variant in India.
“We are reporting clusters of Covid-19 cases in some places. There are more than 70 such clusters which are majorly driven by the Delta variant,” he said.
Lax compliance
According to WHO, there is a surge in Covid cases in Europe due to laxity in adhering to public health measures with an increase in vaccination, Paul said.
Meanwhile, Agarwal underlined that both Kerala and Maharashtra are contributing a majority of the active Covid cases — Kerala reported over 43 per cent of India’s total active cases and Maharashtra registered over 10 per cent.
Also see: With Omicron variant spreading, TN urges officials to enforce all Covid-appropriate measures
As per the Health Ministry, 86.2 per cent of the adult population has received the first Covid vaccine dose and 53.5 per cent has been covered for the second dose.
“We are administering up to 80-lakh doses of Covid vaccines each day. It needs to continue to cover the entire adult population,” Balram Bhargava, Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said during the media briefing.