LIVE: Omicron variant updates, COVID-19 news in India - Puducherry clocks 13 new coronavirus cases

As per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare India recorded 6,984 new cases and 247 deaths in the last 24 hours. Furthermore, Eight new cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus were reported in Maharashtra - seven of them in Mumbai - and none of the patients had a history of international travel, the state health department said on Tuesday, as per a PTI report. It must also be noted that Maharashtra reported two more fully vaccinated people infected with the Omicron variant of COVID-19, with both having Dubai travel history, while a man who had returned from South Africa tested positive in Gujarat, taking the tally in the country to 41 on Monday, as per a PTI report.

See Zee Business Live TV Streaming Below:-

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: According to a report by news agency IANS, three international passengers, who arrived from the United Kingdom including a nine-year-old boy, tested positive for Covid-19 at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru.

Quoting Health Department sources, the report said that the other two, a 25-year-old person and 18-year-old youth, along with the boy, have been shifted to a designated hospital.

The contacts of these persons have been tracked and advised to remain in isolation. Their swab samples have been collected and sent for testing, the report said.

12.03 PM: Puducherry recorded 13 new coronavirus cases during last 24 hours ending 9 AM on Wednesday taking the total number of those affected by the disease to 1,29,261, as per PTI. 
The new cases identified at the end of 2,206 samples were spread over Puducherry 11 and Karaikal and Mahe one case each. Yanam, an enclave of Puducherry in Andhra Pradesh did not not report any fresh case of infection. The active cases were 173 which included 39 patients in hospitals and remaining 134 patients were in home isolation. No fresh fatality was reported from any of the four regions of Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam during last 24 hours and fatalities remained 1878. Director of the Department of Health, G Sriramulu said in a release that so far 20,16,761 samples have been tested and 17,11,549 out of them were found to be negative. While 17 patients recovered and were discharged from hospitals during last twenty-four hours, the overall recoveries were 1,27,210. The test positivity rate today was 0.59 percent while the fatality and recovery rates were 1.45 percent and 98.41 percent respectively. The Director said the Department of Health has administered so far 13,20,716 doses which comprised 8,03,115 first doses and 5,17,601 second jabs.

10.27 AM: With the addition of 55 new cases of coronavirus, the infection count in Maharashtra's Thane district has risen to 5,70,675, while two more fatalities pushed the death toll to 11,595, an official said on Wednesday, as per PTI. 
These new cases and deaths were reported on Tuesday, he said.
The COVID-19 mortality rate in Thane is 2.03 per cent, he added.
In neighbouring Palghar district, the COVID-19 case count has gone up to 1,38,841, while the death toll has reached 3,303, another official said.

9.30 AM: There have been 8,168 recoveries in the last 24 hours increasing the total recoveries to 3,41,46,931. India's active caseload stands at 87,562. The active cases account for less than 1 per cent of the total cases.

9.30 AM: 134.61 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under Nationwide Vaccination Drive

9.13 AM: With the addition of 55 new cases of coronavirus, the infection count in Maharashtra's Thane district has risen to 5,70,675, while two more fatalities pushed the death toll to 11,595, an official said on Wednesday, as per PTI.
These new cases and deaths were reported on Tuesday, he said.
The COVID-19 mortality rate in Thane is 2.03 per cent, he added.
In neighbouring Palghar district, the COVID-19 case count has gone up to 1,38,841, while the death toll has reached 3,303, 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 has to 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.