Delhi, Mumbai, Bengal see steep rise in Covid cases, Omicron remains a worry | 10 points

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Delhi reported 1,313 fresh Covid-19 cases on Thursday and no deaths, the highest single-day spike since May. The Test Positivity Rate in the city was recorded at 1.73%. The national capital recorded 923 infections yesterday. Along with Delhi, Mumbai and West Bengal too witnessed a steep surge in new cases. 

1. Mumbai reported 3,671 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, a 46.25 percent increase over the previous day, said Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope. The Test Positivity Rate in the financial capital was recorded at 8.48 percent, he added.
2. West Bengal registered 2,128 new infections, almost a 100 per cent rise from yesterday in nearly six months.
3. Long queues of people were seen outside various Delhi Metro stations, after the imposition of fresh curbs by authorities to check the spread of a rising number of COVID-19 cases in the national capital. In a statement on Thursday evening, DMRC said its permissible carrying capacity had drastically got reduced from 2,400 to 200 for an eight-coach train.
4. A "yellow" alert under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) was sounded by the DDMA on Tuesday, which entails the running of DTC buses and metro trains with 50 per cent seating capacity and no provision for standing for commuters.
5. A group of people blocked the MB Road and damaged a few DTC buses on Thursday morning after not being allowed to board a bus that had exceeded the permissible passenger-carrying capacity. Police used mild force to disperse the crowd and five people were detained, officials said.
6. The Delhi High Court on Thursday decided to shift to the virtual system of hearings from January 3 in view of rise in COVID-19 cases and the subsequent 'yellow alert' declared by the government in the national capital.
7. Delhi recorded the highest number of 263 Omicron cases, followed by Maharashtra at 252, Gujarat 97, Rajasthan 69, Kerala  65 and Telangana 62.
8. India saw the highest single-day rise of 180 cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, taking the tally of such cases to 961 in the country, according to the Union health ministry's data updated on Thursday.
9. The Delhi government has set up a total of 350 isolation beds at four places, including the Commonwealth Games village, for international travellers, their contacts and Omicron cases, amid the rising number of COVID-19 infections in the city, according to an official order.
10. India's R naught value, which indicates spread of COVID-19, is 1.22, the government said, warning that cases are increasing, not shrinking, as it highlighted that Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Karnataka and Gujarat were emerging as states and UTs of concern on the basis of weekly infections and positivity rate.

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