LIVE: Omicron variant, Coronavirus news updates - Centre advises states, UTs to follow five-fold strategy

India has recorded 7495 cases as per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in the last 24 hours. India has recorded 236 cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus 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, as per a PTI report. 

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a COVID-19 review meeting on Thursday. Zee Business reporter Ambarish Pandey reported that the meeting will be attended by the officials from the Ministry of Health, NITI Aayog, Task Force.

India will have Omicron's third wave but it will be milder than the second wave, as per an ANI report, Vidyasagar who is the head of the National COVID-19 Supermodel Committee . He noted that the third wave is likely to arrive early next year.

Omicron, a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, has caught the attention of the government as the World Health Organisation (WHO) has termed it as a variant of concern. According to Manindra Agarwal, IIT scientist involved in the mathematical projection of trajectory of COVID-19, the third wave of coronavirus could hit the peak by February with cases likely to be reaching up to 1-1.5 lakh a day due to Omicron. However, it will be milder than the second wave, he told to PTI.

“With the new variant, our current forecast is that the country could see the third wave by February but it will be milder than the second wave. So far, we have seen that the severity of Omicron is not like the one seen in the Delta variant,” PTI said in a report quoting Agarwal.

Here are the updates from India:

5.40 PM: 

The Centre on Thursday advised states and UTs to not let their guard down and maintain their preparedness in fight against Covid pandemic and to follow five-fold strategy in view of the new variant Omicron.

The states have been asked to put in place the local containment measures by the District and local administration when either the test positivity increases beyond 10 per cent or occupancy of oxygenated beds increases beyond 40 per cent, as per IANS.

"Based on the local situation and population characteristics such as density and others and keeping in mind the higher transmissibility of Omicron, States/UTs can undertake containment measures and impose restrictions even before these thresholds are reached", the Health Ministry has said.

The states have been advised to follow the five-fold strategy of Containment, Testing & Surveillance, Clinical Management, Covid Safe Behavior and Vaccination.

On Containment, the states have been advised to impose night curfews and ensure strict regulation of large gatherings, especially ahead of the forthcoming festivities. The states need to have keep strict watch on number of Delta and Omicron cases in all districts, and case positivity on a day-on-day and week-on-week basis.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan reviewed the public health preparedness of the states for fighting Covid-19 and said that any restriction must be enforced for minimum of 14 days. As syndromes of Omicron variant closely mimic common cold with a higher rate of transmissibility and doubling time, syndromic approach for Covid containment can be employed, said Bhushan.

The states have also been informed that the existing National Clinical Management Protocol remains unchanged for Omicron. They were advised to increase bed capacity, ensure logistics like ambulances and enforce mechanism for seamless shifting of patients. "Utilise funds sanctioned under Emergency Covid Response Package (ECRP-II) to ensure that the requisite capacity of health systems is developed at/near hotspots to respond to any emergency", said ministry to the states.

On the front of Covid Safe Behaviour, states have been asked to ensure advance engagement and information so that there is no misinformation or panic. The states have been asked to ensure 100 per cent coverage of left out first and second dose eligible beneficiaries in an accelerated manner and give special focus to those districts where the first and second dose coverage is less than the national average.

4.25 PM: Karnataka on Thursday reported 12 new cases of Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus, taking its tally in the state to 31, Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said, as per PTI. 

Seven of them are female, including two girls aged nine and 11 years old.
"12 new cases of Omicron have been confirmed in Karnataka today taking the tally to 31," Sudhakar said, adding, ten are from Bengaluru while one each is from Mysuru and Mangaluru.
Among the Bengaluru cases, five had a travel history to the United Kingdom and one each had come from Denmark and Nigeria.
The three others from Bengaluru did not have a travel history.
A 27-year-old man from Mangaluru had come from Ghana, while the nine-year-old girl from Mysuru had returned from Switzerland.
According to health department officials, they have been isolated and were undergoing treatment.
They added that their health condition is being monitored.

3.05 PM: People infected with the Omicron variant of Covid are 15 per cent less likely to attend hospital, and 40 per cent less likely to be hospitalised for a night or more, compared to Delta, according to a new study, as per an IANS report.

Researchers from Imperial College London stressed that these estimated reductions in severity must be balanced against the larger risk of infection with Omicron, due to the reduction in protection provided by both vaccination and natural infection.  
For example, at a population level, large numbers of infections could still lead to large numbers of hospitalisations.
The new report estimates hospitalisation risk for Omicron cases in England. It includes all PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 cases in England between December 1 and 14, where the variant causing infection could be identified from genetic data or via S gene target failure (SGTF). The data set included 56,000 cases of Omicron and 269,000 cases of Delta.
The estimates suggest that Omicron cases have, on average, a 15-20 per cent reduced risk of any hospitalisation and an approximately 40-45 per cent reduced risk of a hospitalisation resulting in a stay of one or more nights.
"Our analysis shows evidence of a moderate reduction in the risk of hospitalisation associated with the Omicron variant compared with the Delta variant. However, this appears to be offset by the reduced efficacy of vaccines against infection with the Omicron variant," said Professor Neil Ferguson from Imperial College London, in a statement.
"Given the high transmissibility of the Omicron virus, there remains the potential for health services to face increasing demand if Omicron cases continue to grow at the rate that has been seen in recent weeks," he added.
The estimates also suggest that individuals who have received at least two doses of either AstraZeneca, Pfizer or Moderna vaccines have substantially reduced risk of hospitalisation compared with primary infections with Delta in unvaccinated individuals, even if protection against infection has been largely lost against the Omicron variant.
Further, reinfection is associated with approximately a 50-60 per cent reduction in hospitalisation risk compared with primary infections.
However, after adjusting estimates to account for only one in three reinfections being identified, the estimated difference in intrinsic hospitalisation risk (that is, defined for primary infections in unvaccinated people) between Delta and Omicron is reduced (that is, 0-30 per cent reduced risk of any hospitalisation) but the estimated reduction in risk of hospitalisation due to previous infection is increased (around 55-70 per cent reduction).
The researchers said it is essential to place the severity of Omicron in the context of reinfection risk in countries, like England and South Africa, where a large proportion of the population may have already been infected.
"Whilst the reduced risk of hospitalisation with the Omicron variant is reassuring, the risk of infection remains extremely high. With the addition of the booster dose, vaccines continue to offer the best protection against infection and hospitalisation," said Professor Azra Ghani from the varsity.

11.12 AM: Mizoram's COVID-19 tally rose to 1,40,143 on Thursday as 241 more people, including 44 children, tested positive for the infection, an official statement said, as per a PTI report. 
The coronavirus death toll of the northeastern state remained unchanged at 535 as no fresh fatality was registered, the statement issued by the state information and public relations department said.
The single-day positivity rate was 7.86 per cent as the fresh cases were detected from 3,066 samples, it said.
Aizawl district reported the highest number of new cases at 88, followed by Mamit (51) and Kolasib (33), it said.
Mizoram now has 1,847 active cases, while 1,37,761 people have recovered from the disease so far, including 238 in the last 24 hours.
The recovery rate among the COVID-19 patients stood at 98.30 per cent, while the mortality rate was at 0.38 per cent. The state has thus far tested over 14.92 lakh samples for COVID-19.
State Immunisation Officer Dr Lalzawmi said that more than 7.29 lakh people have been inoculated to date, of whom 5.87 lakh have been fully vaccinated.
At least 139 people have returned to Mizoram from various countries since the Omicron strain was first detected in South Africa in November, another statement said.
During a COVID-19 review meeting chaired by Health Minister Dr R Lalthangliana on Wednesday, it was pointed out that 139 returnees from abroad underwent Rapid Antigen Test upon their arrival at Lengpui airport, and two of them, who had returned from Australia and Singapore, tested positive for COVID-19, it said.
The two infected returnees were admitted to Zoram Medical College (ZMC) and their samples sent to Kolkata for genomic sequencing and the results are expected by next week, it said.
The remaining returnees were placed under quarantine as per protocol, the statement said.
During the meeting, it was mentioned that a trial run for a genomic sequencing laboratory at ZMC has been already conducted and the test results sent to National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune.
Genomic sequencing will be done at ZMC once official permission is obtained, it said.
Dr Pachuau Lalmalsawma, state nodal officer for Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) and official spokesperson on COVID-19, said that Mizoram registered an average of 197 COVID-19 cases per day between December 1 and 21.
The average single-day positivity rate between December 13 and 19 was 7.2 per cent. The COVID-19 situation in the state is still not under control as the average single-day positivity rate is higher than the WHO guideline of 5 per cent, he added.

10.19 AM: India has recorded 236 cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus 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 recorded the maximum 65 cases of the Omicron variant followed by Delhi at 64, Telangana 24, Karnataka 19, Rajasthan 21 and Kerala 15. as per PTI.
The ministry data updated at 8 am also showed that India recorded 7,495 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of cases to 3,47,65,976, while the active cases increased to 78,291.
The death toll has climbed to 4,78,759 with 434 fresh fatalities, the data stated.
The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been recorded below 15,000 for the last 56 days now.
The active cases comprise 0.23 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has further improved to 98.40 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said.
An increase of 101 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19. India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23. PT I PLB

9.33 AM: Thane has reported 146 new cases of coronavirus, pushing the infection count in the Maharashtra district to 5,71,516, an official said on Thursday, as per PTI.
These new cases were recorded on Wednesday, he said.
There was no new fatality due to the viral infection, and the death toll stood at 11,601, he said, adding that the COVID-19 mortality rate in Thane was 2.03 per cent.
In neighbouring Palghar district, the overall COVID-19 case count has gone up to 1,39,042, while the death toll is 3,307, another official said.

9.30 AM: India's active caseload currently stands at 78,291. Furthermore, 6,960 recoveries in the last 24 hours increases Total Recoveries to  3,4,9262,08.

9.25 AM: 139.70 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under Nationwide Vaccination Drive

The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified a new variant of SARS-CoV-2. It has been named as Omicron. The Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) is an independent group of experts that periodically monitors and evaluates the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and assesses if specific mutations and combinations of mutations alter the behaviour of the virus, WHO has informed.

The B.1.1.529 variant was first reported to WHO from South Africa on 24th November 2021. The epidemiological situation in South Africa has been characterized by three distinct peaks in reported cases, the latest of which was predominantly the Delta variant.

It must be noted that India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakhs on August 23, 40 lakhs on September 5 and 50 lakhs on September 16. It went past 60 lakhs on September 28, 70 lakhs on October 11, crossed 80 lakhs on October 29, 90 lakhs on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19. India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crores on June 2.