Omicron Variant Updates: India's tally rises to 21 after Maharashtra, Rajasthan add 7, 9 cases each

Tamil Nadu has not detected any cases of 'Omicron' variant and the five international passengers who have tested Covid-19 positive on their arrival from the United Kingdom and Singapore, were suspected to contracted the 'Delta' variant of Covid-19, Tamil Nadu Minister Ma Subramanian said on Sunday.

Nine members from a family in Adarsh Nagar in Jaipur tested positive for Omicron on Sunday, after returning from South Africa | READ MORE 

Six people from a family who returned from Nigeria, and another man who arrived from Finland tested positive for Omicron on Sunday, taking the city's tally to 7 and the total caseload of the country to 12. | READ MORE 

Two women publishers from Pune attending the 94th Marathi literary meet, Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, in Nashik, Maharashtra have tested positive for Covid-19, PTI reported on Sunday. The women will either be quarantined in Nashik or allowed to travel back to Pune and kept under observation.

International travellers at the Chennai airport are facing a tough time with the mandatory Rapid PCR tests and the high fees being charged.

The Gurugram Health department has identified 553 people who have recently returned from 12 high-risk countries. All of these people were asked to get the RT-PCR tests done at the airport.

Australia's medical regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), on Sunday provisionally approved Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine for children aged between 5 and 11.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said the federal government now expects the vaccine rollout for that cohort to start on January 10 pending approval from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI).

The Cuban government continued to take precautions amid mounting global concern over the Covid-19 Omicron variant. Starting on Saturday, the Caribbean nation tightened travel rules for inbound international passengers as nationwide cases plateau.

All travelers flying into Cuba from South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Mozambique are now required to show vaccination certificates and negative results of PCR tests taken within 72 hours before arrival, Xinhua news agency reported.

In addition, they are required to take PCR tests on arrival and on the sixth day of their visits as well as to stay in quarantine hotels for a week at their own expense.

Over 50 per cent of India's eligible adult population is now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Sunday as the cumulative vaccine doses administered in the country exceeded 127.61 crore.

According to Union Health Ministry officials, over 84.8 per cent of the adult population in India has been administered the first dose.

French Health Minister Olivier Veran has announced on his social media that 10 million French citizens have received their Covid-19 vaccine booster doses.

As the government previously announced that starting on January 15, the third vaccine dose will be a condition for the renewal of the health pass, the minister assured that "new appointments will continue to open every day so that all eligible people can have their booster on time", Xinhua news agency reported.

According to the health ministry, 52,083,228 people in France have received at least one vaccine dose.

The United States has made it mandatory for all incoming passengers, including those from India, to carry a negative COVID-19 test report or a proof of recovery from the contagion amidst rising number of cases of the new Omicron variant.

The new protocol comes into effect from December 6, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has said.

Union Tourism Minister G. Kishen Reddy urged people to travel to tourism destinations while following all the Covid-related protocols.

Addressing a press conference, Reddy also said that the emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 could prove to be a dampener for international tourist footfalls in India.

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto has tested positive for Covid-19, the ministry has said. 63-year-old Haavisto has shown no symptoms and currently works in his residence, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a press issued by the ministry.

The Finnish government and parliament have been informed of Haavisto's conditions, Paivi Paasikoski, Director General of the Government Communications Department at the Prime Minister's Office, told Finnish news agency STT.

Paasikoski said that Haavisto took the test as it was required for a planned business travel.

Earlier this week, Haavisto attended the ministerial meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in Stockholm after having been to Riga, Latvia, to attend a North Atlantic Treaty Organization Foreign Ministers meeting. 

Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Saturday reviewed the Covid-19 situation in J&K and discussed the preventive measures to be implemented against the emerging scenario.

While chairing the meeting of Covid task force, DCs and SPs, Sinha observed that since the WHO has declared Omicron as a 'variant of concern', the health officials and people must be more proactive.

Sinha said that intensive testing, containment and enhanced surveillance are required in areas reporting higher cases. He directed the health officials to ensure utilisation of full capacity of RT-PCR testing and vaccination.

Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu said there is no need to panic about the emergence of new Covid-19 variant -- Omicron, while advising people to remain vigilant and follow the Covid appropriate behaviour till the pandemic is over. He also urged the people to shed hesitancy and get vaccinated at the earliest.

New York announced three more cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus on Saturday, bringing the number of state cases linked to the new variant to eight.

“The omicron variant is here, and as anticipated we are seeing the beginning of community spread," state Health Commissioner Mary Bassett said in a news release.

The number of states finding the variant is growing as well, with authorities in New Jersey, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Maryland reporting their first confirmed cases Friday, and Missouri reporting its first presumed case.

The variant also has been detected in Nebraska, Minnesota, California, Hawaii, Colorado and Utah.

Chile has reported its first case of the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus after confirming that the case was discovered in a person entering the country from Ghana on November 25.

The Regional Ministry of Health of Valparaiso reported on Saturday that the traveller entered Chile with a negative PCR test, but another test at the Santiago airport returned a positive result, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to authorities, the passenger was fully vaccinated at the time and is currently in good health in isolation at a sanitary residence.

Zambia has confirmed the presence of omicron Covid-19 variant in the southern African nation. Minister of Health Sylvia Masebo said the variant was detected in the country's genomic sequencing laboratory in three people who tested positive in the last week, Xinhua news agency reported.

She told reporters during a press briefing that the variant was detected in two male adults with a history of travelling out of the country and one female who initially presented with mild flu-like symptoms as an out-patient at one of the hospitals in Lusaka, the country's capital but had no history of international travel. 

Taking tough measures to contain the spread of Covid-19 and guard against its latest variant Omicron, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Saturday that any place with three or more Covid cases would be declared a cluster. Earlier, the minimum requirement was 10 cases.

South Africa’s Health Department has said that there are no vaccines currently available to administer children under the age of 12 as children under five years constitute the second highest at-risk group after those over 60 as the Omicron variant takes a vice-like grip over the country.

“As far as vaccinating under the age of 12 is concerned, there is no vaccine registered in South Africa so far. We await applications from the manufacturers for use of vaccines at different ages and different boosters and intervals,” said Dr Nicholas Crisp of the Department of Health.

Fifteen suspected patients of Omicron, who flew in the national capital from "at risk" countries", are admitted to the Delhi government's LNJP hospital, according to a senior hospital official.

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Saturday said the Omicron variant of coronavirus has a higher rate of transmissibility but the symptoms caused by it are mild.

In a pre-recorded message, Tope said, “The Omicron variant of novel coronavirus has a higher transmissibility rate but its symptoms are mild. No one in South Africa, infected with the Omicron variant, has been put on oxygen. It has not increased the fatality rate so far”.