On a day India reported its first case of casualty from the infection of the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus, the central government has declared that it is predominantly the circulating strain in the country that is leading to a cataclysmic spike in daily cases.
“Omicron is the predominant circulating strain in the cities in the country. Mass gatherings must be avoided to lower the speed of this spread,” Dr Balram Bhargava, DG-ICMR, told media persons in New Delhi.
Bhargava further said that an Omicron detecting RT-PCR kit has been developed in partnership with Tata MD and ICMR and it has been approved by the Drugs Controller General of India.
“This kit will test will give results within 4 hours,” the ICMR chief said.
Globally, 108 Omicron-related deaths have been reported so far.
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare also said that India has reported more than 6.3 times increase in cases in the last 8 days.
“A sharp increase has been seen in case positivity from 0.79% on 29 December 2021 to 5.03% on January 5,” the Ministry of Health said.
The states of concern are Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Gujarat where there has been a significant rise in cases. A total of 28 districts in the country are reporting more than 10% weekly positivity.
Around 25.2 lakh cases were recorded globally on January 4, the highest ever since the onset of the pandemic. Approximately, 65% of the cases in the week ending January 4 have been reported from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain.
Commenting on the vaccination programmes, the Health Ministry said that 7.40 crore children between 15-18 years are eligible for Covid-19 jabs.
“Precautionary Covid-19 vaccine dose will be the same vaccine as has been given previously. Those who have received Covaxin will receive Covaxin, and those who have received primary two doses of Covishield will receive Covishield,” Dr VK Paul, Member-Health at NITI Aayog, said.
Meanwhile, Bhargava said that Molnupiravir, an antiviral medication, has major safety concerns including mutagenicity, muscle and bone damage.
“If this drug is given contraception has to be done for three months as child may have problems. So it is not included in national task got treatments,” the ICMR DG said.
