People without travel history being omicron infected shows it's spreading in community: Delhi minister Satyendar Jain

Says stringent curbs have been put in place as part of the Graded Response Action Plan for Covid to check the spread of the infection

Photo for representation purposes. Reuters

New Delhi, December 30

Omicron is gradually spreading in the community and the new, fast-spreading variant of concern accounted for 46 per cent of the 115 Covid samples analysed in the national capital so far, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Thursday.

He said stringent curbs had been put in place as part of the Graded Response Action Plan for Covid to check the spread of the infection and the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) would decide on implementing more restrictions.

"There are 200 coronavirus patients in Delhi hospitals. Genome sequencing of the samples of 115 patients showed 46 per cent had omicron. These people include those who do not have any travel history. It means omicron is now inside Delhi," Jain said.

"Indeed, the variant is gradually spreading in the community," the minister said.

He said that of the 200 coronavirus cases in Delhi hospitals, only 102 belong to the city.

Of the hospitalised Covid patients in Delhi, 115 did not have any symptoms and had been kept in hospitals as a precautionary measure, Jain said.

The Delhi health minister had on Wednesday said many international travellers who tested negative at the airport were found to be Covid positive after a few days. During this period, they infected their family members, he said.

The DDMA had on Wednesday decided that Covid-related restrictions imposed in Delhi under the 'yellow alert' will continue for the time being and authorities will monitor the situation for a while before deciding on fresh curbs.

On Wednesday, it had declared a 'yellow alert' under the Graded Response Action Plan in the city amid a spike in coronavirus cases following the emergence of the omicron variant.

The 'yellow alert' entails restrictions like night curfew, closure of schools and colleges, opening of shops selling non-essential items on an odd-even basis and halved seating capacity in Metro trains and buses, among other things. PTI