Sharp jump in Omicron cases in India, tally reaches 781 on Wednesday

Dec. 29: The Union Health Ministry in a press briefing informed that the total count of the highly transmissible coronavirus variant Omicron has reached 781 in India. The variant of concern that was first detected in South Africa in November has now spread to 21 states in the country.

The national capital Delhi topping the chart with 238 Omicron cases, including 57 recoveries. Maharashtra is second with 167 Omicron cases including 72 recoveries. Gujarat, Kerala, Telangana, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, West Bengal have two-digit figures of Omicron cases, according to health ministry data.  States which have single-digit Omicron cases include Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh and Manipur. The rapid spread of the latest variant of SARS-CoV-2 also impacted India’s total tally of cases as it recorded around a 44% increase from Tuesday with 9,195 cases.

The Union health ministry has already alerted all states and UTs to be on alert amid the festive season and most of the metro cities have already banned public gatherings and celebratory events on the occasion of New Year.

The risk posed by the Omicron variant is still “very high”, the World Health Organisation said today, after COVID-19 case numbers shot up by 11 per cent globally last week. Omicron is behind rapid virus spikes in several countries, including those where it has already overtaken the previously dominant Delta variant, the WHO said in its weekly epidemiological update.