LIVE: Omicron variant, COVID-19 news updates - 2 Omicron cases detected in Odisha

As per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India recorded 5,326 new cases and 453 deaths in the last 24 hours. On Monday Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya informed in Rajya Sabha that 161 Omicron cases have been recorded in India so far.

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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. On Friday, the government reported that more than 101 Omicron cases have been detected across the country, as per an ANI report.

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:

1.45 PM: For the first time, two Omicron cases have been detected in Odisha, as per an IANS report. 

Both are foreign returnees and their health condition is stable, an official said here on Tuesday.

"After genome sequencing, we found two Omicron positive cases. While one person returned from Nigeria, another returned from Qatar," said State director, public health, Niranjan Mishra.

Both the two Omicron positive persons have returned from "non-at-risk" countries and from the very beginning they are under isolation, he said, adding, "both are stable now. One person is asymptomatic while another is having very mild symptoms."

Contract tracing of both the persons have been done. As many 21 persons, who had come in contact with the positive persons, have been traced out and RTPCR testing is being done, Mishra said.

He said genome sequencing will be conducted for all those who found positive in RTPCR test.

"Since November 21, we are putting all foreign returnees, including those who returned from `non-at-risk` countries under surveillance. So far, around 8,800 people from foreign countries have returned to Odisha, of which around 1,600 are from `at-risk` countries," Mishra said.

Among the foreign returnees, so far, 12 persons have tested Covid-19 positive. Still few people are untraceable, he informed.

As the transmission rate of the new variant is very very high, the director cautioned all people and appealed to follow Covid appropriate behaviour like social distancing, use of mask and hand sanitisation, even after receiving two doses of vaccine. However, there is no need to panic as the situation is totally under control, he added.

Meanwhile, Odisha has reported 146 fresh Covid-19 cases on Tuesday taking the active cases to 1,792. The State also confirmed the death of another person due to the virus. So far, 8,446 persons have died due to Covid in the state.

1.10 PM:  Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain said on Tuesday that of the 34 Omicron variant cases reported so far, three do not have any travel history, as per an IANS report. 

Of the total Omicron positive cases in the city`s Lok Nayak Jai Prakash hospital, three such cases do not have any travel history and have not been abroad, he said.

There may be some more cases in other hospitals as Delhi government has designated four more private hospitals for the treatment. "We are assembling the data from these hospitals too, he said, adding that 17 patients have been discharged from the hospital.

However, the union health ministry in a statement on Tuesday said that the national capital has reported 54 cases of Omicron infection so far. According to the ministry, the number of cases of new Covid strain has crossed the 200-mark in the country. Of them, 77 patients have recovered or migrated, the ministry added.

Maharashtra and Delhi have recorded 54 cases of Omicron variant each, while Telangana has 20 cases, Karnataka 19, Rajasthan 18, Kerala 15 and Gujarat 14 cases of Omicron, said Union Health Ministry.

Seeing the steady rise in the Omicron infection, Delhi government on Monday announced that now all Omicron positive samples will be sent for genome sequencing. "Delhi government has decided to send all the Omicron positive samples for genomen sequencing now and we have adequate arrangements for that", said Minister Jain.

11.10 AM: Two hundred cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus have been detected in India so far out of which 77 patients have recovered or migrated, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday, as per PTI
Maharashtra and Delhi have recorded 54 cases of Omicron variant each, while Telangana registered 20 cases, Karnataka 19, Rajasthan 18, Kerala 15 and Gujarat 14 cases.
The ministry data updated on Tuesday also stated that India recorded 5,326 new cases of coronavirus infections, the lowest in 581 days, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,47,52,164, while the active cases declined to 79,097, the lowest in 574 days .
The death toll climbed to 4,78,007 with 453 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.
The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been recorded below 15,000 for the last 54 days now.
The active cases have declined to 79,097 comprising 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.
A decline of 3,170 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.

10.56 AM: India's active caseload currently stands at 79,097 which lowest in 574 days. Furthermore, 8,043 recoveries in the last 24 hours increases Total Recoveries to  3,41,95,060.

10.55 AM: 138.35 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under Nationwide Vaccination Drive

8.36 AM: Three foreign returnees have tested positive for COVID-19 in Manipur, a health department official said, as per a PTI report.
Of the three persons, two returned from Amsterdam in the Netherlands and one from Canada, the official said.
All the three persons are residents of Manipur's Imphal West district and they arrived at Bir Tikendrajit International Airport here on Sunday.
The three persons have been admitted to Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital for treatment on Monday, the official said.
Their samples will be sent for genome sequencing to find whether they have been infected by the Omicron variant of COVID-19, the official added.
These new cases and death were reported on Sunday, he said.

The COVID-19 mortality rate in Thane stood at 2.03 per cent, he added.

In neighboring Palghar district, the COVID-19 case count has gone up to 1,38,997, while the death toll stands at 3,307, another official said.

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.