Two New Case of Omicron Infection in Gujarat: Country’s Tally Rise to 25

NEW DELHI, Dec 10: Gujarat on Friday reported two new cases Omicron variant of Covid-19 taking the country’s tally to 25 so far. The wife and brother-in-law of a Non-Resident Indian who had landed in Jamnagar from Zimbabwe and was the first in Gujarat to be found Omicron variant infected, have also been detected with Omicron infection, official sources said on Friday. With this, Gujarat now has three patients of Omicron, classified as a ‘variant of concern’ by the World Health Organisation (WHO) after it was detected in Africa last month.

With 8,503 people testing positive for the coronavirus in a day, India’s COVID-19 tally climbed to 3,46,74,744, while the number of active cases rose to 94,943, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday. The death toll mounted to 4,74,735 with the addition of 624 new 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 43 days now. The number of active cases though has increased to 94,943, it currently constitute only 0.27 per cent of the total population, the lowest since March 2020, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.36 per cent, the highest since March 2020,the Health Ministry said.

The WHO had expressed concerns on Thursday that rich countries, spooked by the emergence of the Omicron variant, could start hoarding Covid-19 vaccines and strain global supplies again. The UN health agency, after a meeting of its expert panel on vaccination, reiterated its advice to governments against the widespread use of boosters in their populations so that well-stocked countries instead can send doses to low-income countries that have largely lacked access to them.

(Manas Dasgupta)