Omicron highly infectious, but severity low, says INSACOG as India tally surges to 781

Box: Ready for virtual poll rallies: BJP

Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said the BJP was ready for virtual rallies in all poll-bound states, including in Punjab

“We will follow the ECI guidelines issued regarding polls in the wake of the emergence of Omicron variant,” he said

The BJP held virtual rallies during Bengal elections and was again ready for it if the EC ordered so, he said

Box: PM Modi’s UAE visit postponed

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s planned visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the first half of the next month has been postponed in view of the rising cases of Omicron, sources said. The visit might now be planned in February, they said.

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 29

With the country’s Omicron cases rising to 781 across 21 states and UTs on Wednesday, the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) said there was a clear experimental and clinical data supporting very high immune escape potential of Omicron, but initial estimates showed the severity of illness being lower than what was seen in outbreaks reported earlier.

“Appropriate public health measures and investigations are being conducted in India for surveillance of Omicron,” INSACOG said, while noting that globally there appeared to be significantly reduced ability of vaccines or prior infection to protect against symptomatic infection caused by Omicron variant.

In its bulletin released on Wednesday, INSACOG said, “Delta continues to be the most prevalent virus of concern globally, but Omicron has entirely displaced it in southern Africa and is on track to become the dominant variant in Britain and elsewhere.”

According to the Union Health Ministry, of the 781 Omicron cases, 241 have recovered or migrated. Delhi recorded the maximum number of 238 Omicron cases, followed by Maharashtra (167), Gujarat (73), Kerala (65) and Telangana (62).

With 9,195 people testing positive for Covid in a day, India’s total tally rose to 3,48,08,886, while the active cases increased to 77,002. The death toll has climbed to 4,80,592 with 302 new fatalities, the data stated. The daily rise in new infections has been recorded below 15,000 for the past 62 days now.

An increase of 1,546 cases has been recorded in active caseload in the past 24 hours. On the vaccine front, the cumulative doses administered in the country so far has exceeded 143.15 crore.