Omicron variant: Delta on its way out, unlikely to survive anymore, says top doctor

Assam on Sunday reported more COVID-19 recoveries than fresh cases as 6,118 persons recovered from the disease while 2,277 fresh infections pushed the tally to 6,92,811, according to the National Health Mission (NHM) bulletin. During the day, 13 persons lost their lives to the disease, three each in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia, two each in Jorhat and Kamrup Metropolitan, and one each in Karimganj, Kokrajhar and Sonitpur districts, it said.

As the upward trend of COVID-19 infections continued in Jammu and Kashmir, the State Executive Committee (SEC) on Sunday announced exemption of pregnant women employees and those with disabilities from physical attendance in their offices. The new guidelines, which retained already issued restrictions including weekend lockdown, night curfew and online classes up to college level, were issued after a fresh review of the COVID-19 situation.

Maharashtra on Sunday reported 40,805 COVID-19 cases, taking its tally to 75,07,225, while 44 fatalities put the toll at 1,42,115, a health department official said. The discharge of 27,377 people during the day took the recovery count to 70,67,955, leaving the state with 2,93,305 active cases, he said. With 1,95,256 samples being examined on Sunday, the number of tests in Maharashtra went up to 7,33,69,912, he said.

Kerala continued to record a daily tally of over 45,000 cases for the second day in a row on Sunday taking the total number of affected people in the state to 56,20,151. In a bulletin issued late on Sunday, the health department said 45,449 new positive cases were detected in Kerala.

Two new studies, not yet peer-reviewed, have shown immune evasion is the reason behind the Omicron variant's increased transmissibility. The Omicron variant, first reported from South Africa and Botswana in late November, has now been detected in 171 countries so far. In many countries it has rapidly surged past other variants to become the dominant SARS-CoV-2 strain.

The World Health Organisation is working to devise a central system to update Covid vaccines, much like the current process used for flu jabs, the media reported. The strategy emulates a system currently used to decide on "strain updates" for flu shots, which are updated every six months, The Telegraph reported.

Tripura's COVID-19 caseload rose to 97,933 on Sunday as 557 more people tested positive for the infection, 397 less than the previous day, an official said. Four fresh fatalities pushed the northeastern state's coronavirus death toll to 865, he said.

The severity of the COVID-19 outbreak during the third wave is low as compared to the second wave and the death rate has remained at an average of one individual succumbing to 1,000 cases, a senior Tamil Nadu government official said on Sunday. Unvaccinated individuals and those eligible to receive the 'precautionary booster dose' also pose a risk to contracting the contagion and this has emerged as a larger point of view of the medical experts who met here, Health Department Principal Secretary J Radhakrishnan said.

As part of the door to door fever survey announced by T Harish Rao, the Urban Primary Health Centre (UPHC) conducted a fever survey on Saturday in the Kachiguda area of Hyderabad. A health team with a nurse, Asha worker, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) officials and Medical Supervisor were conducting a survey. Anyone with COVID-19 symptoms was asked to go for home isolation and was also given medical kits.

Delhi continues to register a decline in its daily COVID-19 caseload, logging 9,197 new cases during the last 24 hours, said the state government on Sunday. As per the bulletin provided by the Health Department, the positivity rate for the day has declined to 13.32 per cent. A total of 69,022 samples were tested in the last 24 hours. During the last 24 hours, 13,510 patients recovered from the infection, taking the total recoveries in the national capital to 17,11,845.

Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Sunday said that COVID-19 cases were reduced in the state, adding that if cases continue to decline, the government will consider withdrawing Sunday lockdown. "Cases are reducing in comparison to last one or two days. It is satisfactory. If cases continue to reduce, we will think about withdrawing the Sunday lockdown," said Subramanian while talking to media.

The Omicron variant of Covid-19 has been identified in 171 countries, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said. In its latest technical brief, the global health body said that Omicron is soon set to replace Delta globally as a result of its immunity evading potential.

Patients with cancer who receive chemotherapy and some targeted therapies may mount an inadequate immune response to Covid-19 vaccination, according to a study. Researchers at Mayo Clinic Cancer Center have found that targeted therapies, such as CDK4/6 inhibitors and therapies targeted at B cells, also may cut Covid vax response.

India's R-value which indicates the rate of spread of coronavirus has further reduced to 1.57 in the week from January 14-21 and the national peak of the third wave of the infection is expected to come in the next fortnight, according to a preliminary analysis by IIT Madras. R-value indicates the number of people an infected person can spread the disease to. A pandemic is considered to end if this value goes below 1

Karnataka on Sunday achieved 100 per cent coverage of first dose of COVID-19 vaccine among its eligible population, Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said. He also claimed that Karnataka became the first state in the country to achieve this feat.

Red wine could help stave off Covid-19, according to new research. People who drink more than five glasses a week had a 17 per cent lower risk of catching the virus, the Daily Mail reported citing the study as saying.

The union territory of Puducherry logged 1,897 new COVID-19 cases during the last 24 hours pushing the overall tally to 1,52,213, a senior Health department official said on Sunday. Five more people succumbed to the virus in the last 24 hours as the death toll rose to 1,906, Director of Health and Family Welfare Services G Sriramulu said in a release here. The Puducherry region alone registered 1,395 out of the 1,897 new cases in the last 24 hours as of 10 AM today while Karaikal reported 342 cases, followed by Yanam (116) and Mahe (44). The number of active cases stood at 15,696 with 174 undergoing treatment in hospitals and the remaining 15,522 in home isolation. The Health department Director said 1,264 patients recovered and were discharged during the last 24 hours while the overall recoveries rose to 1,34,611. Five more persons (all from Puducherry) succumbed to the virus during the last 24 hours, he said, adding the deceased were in the age group ranging between 55 and 90 years.

Arunachal Pradesh's COVID-19 tally rose to 59,162 on Sunday as 359 more people tested positive for the infection, 173 less than the previous day, a senior health official said. The death toll remained unchanged at 282 as no fresh fatalities were recorded, State Surveillance Officer (SSO) Dr Lobsang Jampa said. The Capital Complex region registered the highest number of new cases at 176, followed by 25 in Lower Dibang Valley, and 24 each in Lohit and East Siang districts. Arunachal Pradesh now has 2,890 active cases, while 55,990 people have recovered from the disease so far, including 129 on Saturday, Jampa said, adding that the discharge rate stood at 95.64 per cent.

The Election Commission's ban on physical rallies in five poll-bound states since January 8 due to the ongoing COVID-19 wave has hit the business of charter flight operators. Just 10-15 per cent of the 350-400 flight hours per month are election-related travel at this stage, the operators said. "Election travel has not really picked up. It had started to pick up initially, around mid-December, but then the EC announced the ban on rallies so that completely stopped most of the (election-related) travel," Rajan Mehra, CEO, Club One Air told PTI. Election travel is very limited, added Mehra, former India head of Qatar Airways. Kanika Tekriwal, CEO and Founder, JetSetGo Aviation, told PTI that as there is a ban on rallies due to COVID-19, the company has seen only 70 per cent of inquiries for election-related travel this year as compared to last year. However, no inquiry has been actually converted in actual flights as of yet and their conversion is in process, she added. "Since ban on physical rallies have been extended, we don't see much flights happening for elections this time for rallies," Tekriwal noted. JetSetGo Aviation and Club One Air have a fleet of 18 and 10 aircraft, respectively, to operate charter flights.

162 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses administered  in the country: Ministry of Health.

Ladakh reported 283 fresh COVID-19 cases, raising its tally to 24,496, officials said on Sunday. Leh district reported 248 fresh cases and Kargil district 35, they added. According to the officials, no Covid death was reported in the past 24 hours in the union territory and the death toll remained unchanged at 222- 164 fatalities in Leh and 58 in Kargil. Ninety more patients were discharged from hospitals in Leh and 19 in Kargil after undergoing successful treatment, taking the number of recovered cases in Ladakh to 22,999.

Mongolia's Health Ministry on Sunday confirmed 2,766 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the total confirmed cases to 427,588.The latest confirmed cases were all locally transmitted, and among them, 1,633 were detected in the national capital Ulan Bator, the ministry said.Meanwhile, one more COVID-19 patient died in the past day, pushing the national death toll to 2,021.

Odisha on Sunday recorded 8,520 coronavirus cases- 325 infections less than the previous day- pushing the tally to 12,04,660, the health department said its bulletin. On Saturday, the state had logged 8,845 new cases and seven deaths. The toll mounted to 8,520 with six more fatalities, the bulletin said. Fifty-three other COVID-19 patients in the state have died due to comorbidities in the past. At least 11,344 patients recuperated from the disease in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 11,10,767, the department said. Odisha currently has 85,320 active cases, including 31,501 in Khurda. The test positivity rate stood at 11.75 per cent Khurda district, where Bhubaneswar is situated, reported 2,262 new infections, followed by Sundargarh at 932 and Cuttack at 789, it said.

The COVID-19 tally of Andaman and Nicobar Islands rose to 9,277 on Sunday as 113 more people tested positive for the infection, 18 less than the previous day, a health bulletin said. Only one new patient has a travel history, while 112 infections were detected during contact tracing, it said. The Union territory now has 564 active cases, while 8,584 people have recovered from the disease so far, including 65 in the last 24 hours, the bulletin said. The death toll remained unchanged at 129 as no fresh fatality was recorded, it said. The administration has tested over 6.8 lakh samples for COVID-19, and inoculated more than 2.99 lakh people with two doses of the vaccine to date.

India's R-value which indicates the rate of spread of coronavirus has further reduced to 1.57 in the week from January 14-21 and the national peak of the third wave of the infection is expected to come in the next fortnight, according to a preliminary analysis by IIT Madras. R-value indicates the number of people an infected person can spread the disease to. A pandemic is considered to end if this value goes below 1. According to the analysis shared by IIT Madras with PTI, the R-value was recorded at 1.57 between January 14 and January 21. The number was recorded at 2.2 in the week of January 7-13 while it was 4 from January 1-6 and 2.9 from December 25- 31. The preliminary analysis was done by computational modeling by IIT Madras' Department of Mathematics and Centre of Excellence for Computational Mathematics and Data Science headed by Prof Neelesh S Upadhye and Prof S Sundar.

The Tamil Nadu public health department has inoculated 14,29,736 people as part of the 19th mega vaccine drive conducted across the state. The drive was conducted on Saturday. The health department officials said that a majority of those who were inoculated had come for their second doses. The health and family welfare department in a statement on Saturday said that 10,27,810 people took the second dose of vaccine, 3,68,797 took their first dose and 33,129 took the booster dose. The state health minister, Ma Subramanian while speaking to IANS said, "The state health department has vaccinated more than 14 lakh people and I appeal to the people of the state, who are yet to be vaccinated, to do it immediately." The state minister said that 89.6 per cent of the eligible population have taken their first dose of the vaccine while 66.8 per cent have taken their second dose of the vaccine. Ma Subramanian said that out of the 5.56 lakh people eligible for the booster dose of vaccine, only 1.84 lakh have taken them till Friday. He also said that while the Covid-19 cases were increasing in large numbers in the state, it was less compared to the figures in Kerala, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. The minister also said that the case fatality rate was less in Tamil Nadu and added that those who were dying due to Covid-19 were those who were not vaccinated. He urged the people of the state to take vaccination with immediate effect.

Well known director Selvaraghavan, who is also the brother of actor Dhanush, on Sunday announced that he has tested positive for Covid-19. Taking to Twitter, Selvaraghavan said: "Good morning. I have just tested positive today for Covid-19. If anyone has come in contact with me in the last two to three days, kindly consult your physician on what you should be doing. Please stay vigilant. Urging everyone to mask up and stay safe." It was only on Saturday that Selvaraghavan's wife, Gitanjali, had announced that she had tested positive for Covid. "My achy breaky heada. Isolation day 2. Dear God, When I said help me get rid of all negativity in my life this year, I did not mean this. I will happily take any number of negatives in my covid tests. Yours sincerely, Gitanjali," she said.

The Omicron variant of COVID-19 is in the community transmission stage in India and has become dominant in multiple metros where new cases have been rising exponentially, the INSACOG has said in its latest bulletin. It also said BA.2 lineage, an infectious sub-variant of Omicron, has been found in a substantial fraction in the country. The INSACOG, in its January 10 bulletin that was released on Sunday, said while most Omicron cases so far have been asymptomatic or mild, hospitalisations and ICU cases have increased in the current wave and the threat level remains unchanged. "Omicron is now in community transmission in India and has become dominant in multiple metros, where new cases have been rising exponentially. BA.2 lineage is in a substantial fraction in India and S gene dropout based screening is thus likely to give high false negatives," it said. S-gene drop-out is a genetic variation like that of Omicron.

The Centre on Sunday said that it has provided over 161.47 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses provided to States and Union Territories (UTs) so far. In a statement, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said that it has provided 1,61,47,69,885 vaccine doses to States and UTs so far through the Centre's free-of-cost channel and through the direct state procurement category. The ministry also said that more than 13.32 crore (13,32,44,836) balance and unutilized COVID vaccine doses are still available with the States and UTs to be administered. Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 161.92 crore vaccine doses. With the administration of more than 71 lakh vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has reached 1,61,92,84,270 as per provisional reports till 7 am today, said the ministry. Notably, India's COVID-19 vaccination drive was started on January 16, 2021.

Mizoram reported 1,285 news COVID-19 cases and one death in the last 24 hours, according to the state's Department of Information and Public relations on Sunday. The number of active cases in the northeastern state stands at 9,845. With this, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Mizoram has gone up to 1,59,653. As many as 1,49,227 patients were discharged after recovering from the infection. The death toll from COVID-19 in the state stands at 581. Meanwhile, India reported 3,33,533 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the active caseload to 21,87,205, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday.

India logged 3,33,533 new coronavirus infections, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,92,37,264, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday. The  active cases have increased to 21,87,205, while the death toll has climbed to 4,89,409 with 525 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated. The  active cases comprise 5.57 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has decreased to 93.18 per cent, the ministry said. An increase of 73,840 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 161.92 crore. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19. India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.

Thane district in Maharashtra has reported 2,743 new coronavirus positive cases, which took its infection count to 6,90,601, and the death of 12 patients pushed the number of deceased to 11708, an official said on Sunday. These cases and fatalities were recorded on Saturday, he said. Thane's COVID-19 mortality rate is 1.69 per cent at present. In neighbouring Palghar district, the caseload has grown to 1,59,848 and the death toll stood at 3,358, another official said.

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Many families in Nepal are struggling due to reduced job opportunities and growing inflation amid the Covid-19 pandemic, which is still continuing unabated and has increased the single-day cases to more than 10,000 in the past few days. The monthly consumer price inflation climbed to 7.11 per cent in December 2021, the highest in 64 months, from 5.32 per cent in November, according to data from the country's central bank. As a result, the prices of edible oil and ghee had surged year on year by 28.52 per cent, followed by pulses and legumes at 11.79 per cent, and tobacco products at 11.74 per cent, reports Xinhua news agency. In terms of the wholesale price index, wood and wood products saw the highest price rise of 26.35 per cent, followed by fuel and power at 22.27 per cent, and construction materials at 19.34 per cent.

New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern cancels her wedding amid new Omicron restrictions: Reuters. 

New Zealanders are set to face new COVID-19 restrictions after nine cases of the omicron variant were detected in a single family that flew to Auckland for a wedding earlier this month, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Sunday. The so-called "red setting" of the country's pandemic response includes heightened measures such as required mask wearing and limits on gatherings, and the restrictions will go into effect on Monday. Ardern stressed that "red is not lockdown", noting that businesses can remain open and people can still visit family and friends and move freely around the country. "Our plan for managing omicron cases in the early stage remains the same as delta, where we will rapidly test, contact trace and isolate cases and contacts in order to slow the spread," Ardern told reporters in Wellington on Sunday. New Zealand had been among the few remaining countries to have avoided any outbreaks of the omicron variant, but Ardern acknowledged last week that an outbreak was inevitable given the high transmissibility of the variant.

China on Saturday reported 19 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, local media reported citing the National Health Commission as saying on Sunday. According to the commission, Saturday saw nine new local infections in Beijing, five in Tianjin, three in Guangdong, and one in Henan and Yunnan respectively, Xinhua reported. Across the Chinese mainland, a total of 37 imported COVID-19 cases were also reported Saturday, Xinhua further reported. Meanwhile, China is witnessing a rise in COVID-19 cases in its major cities including Beijing. After reporting the first case of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, the strict new COVID-19 restrictions come into force in the city. This comes ahead of Winter Olympics which is scheduled to be held next month. Beijing will now require travellers to get a COVID-19 test within 72 hours of arrival in the Chinese capital, Taipei Times reported. The new rule, effective from Saturday to the end of March, is aimed to help with early detection of Omicron, which is surging globally, and the control of epidemic risks, Beijing Daily, a government newspaper, said on social media.

Japan confirmed 54,576 daily Covid-19 cases, setting a new record for the fifth day in a row, according to a tally based on data collected from local governments. Tokyo reported 11,227 new cases on Saturday, eclipsing the previous record of 9,699 logged on Friday, while Osaka Prefecture in western Japan confirmed a fresh high of 7,375 cases. The nationwide tally surpassed the previous record high of 49,854 reported on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike urged the public to be mindful of the transmissibility of the virus and pledged to make all efforts to curb its further spread. Since the first case of the Omicron variant was confirmed in the country on November 30, the number of infections increased 100 times in three weeks. Amid surging cases across the country and concerns over the strain on the medical system, the Japanese government has already placed the first batch of 16 prefectures under a quasi-state of emergency, and then added Tokyo and 12 other prefectures to the measure on Friday. The quasi-state of emergency allows governors to ask restaurants and bars to end operation early and stop or limit the serving of alcohol. As Japan's cumulative total of Covid-19 cases recently exceeded 2 million, many parts of the country have been struggling with what was considered as the "sixth wave" of infections, and several more prefectures have officially sought or are preparing to make quasi-state of emergency requests to the central government.

Canada confirmed 13,555 new COVID-19 cases Saturday afternoon, elevating its national caseload to 2,905,560 with 32,502 deaths, CTV reported.Ontario, the most populous province, reported 6,473 new cases with 47 additional deaths while Quebec, another populous province, announced 5,547 new cases with 68 new deaths. Both provinces reported a drop in COVID-19-related hospitalizations but a jump in the number of patients being treated in intensive care units (ICU) on Saturday.

Canada confirmed 13,555 new COVID-19 cases Saturday afternoon, elevating its national caseload to 2,905,560 with 32,502 deaths, CTV reported.Ontario, the most populous province, reported 6,473 new cases with 47 additional deaths while Quebec, another populous province, announced 5,547 new cases with 68 new deaths. Both provinces reported a drop in COVID-19-related hospitalizations but a jump in the number of patients being treated in intensive care units (ICU) on Saturday.

Nepal: Amid a surge in COVID infections, authorities re-introduced the Odd-Even vehicle rationing scheme in three districts- Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, and Lalitpur- of the Kathmandu Valley from Saturday.

Jammu and Kashmir reported 6,568 new COVID-19 cases and seven deaths on Saturday. According to the health bulletin, there are 2,330 recoveries.There are 39,113 active cases in the Union Territory.

To understand the impact of Covid-19 on the children, the Delhi government has decided to conduct a survey on the basis of which the Happiness Curriculum will be updated. Updating the Happiness Curriculum will help in taking care of mental and emotional well-being of school-going children as being away from schools for a long time leading to mental stress and fear among them. Deputy Chief Minister Shri Manish Sisodia gave instructions to the concerned officials, the Delhi government said in a release. 

Algeria registered a record 2,211 new Covid-19 cases over the past 24 hours, taking the total tally of infections to 234,536. The North African country also reported 13 deaths from the virus in the past 24 hours on Saturday, bringing the death toll nationwide to 6,481, according to the daily briefing released by its health authorities. Amid the strong surge in cases caused by the Omicron variant, Algeria shut down schools for 10 days starting Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Cuba maintained a stable rate of daily Covid-19 infections, reporting 3,401 cases and five deaths, which brought the total number of infections to 1,018,604 and the death toll to 8,358, the Ministry of Public Health has announced. The Ministry said in its daily report that there were 16,969 active cases of the disease, Xinhua news agency reported. The eastern part of the country continued to be the epicentre of infections, with the highest number of cases reported in the provinces of Las Tunas and Holguin, with 457 and 431 cases, respectively, followed by Artemisa (west), with 286. Cuba is continuing its mass immunisation program through which 9.7 million of the island's 11.2 million residents had been vaccinated so far, the Ministry added. In addition, 4.5 million people had received a booster dose of vaccine. The Cuban-made vaccines Abdala, Soberana-02, Soberana Plus are being used in the immunisation drive.

Turkey has reported 72,856 new Covid-19 cases, raising its total tally of infections to 10,881,626, according to the Health Ministry. The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 184 to 85,600 on Saturday, while 89,926 more people recovered in the last 24 hours, Xinhua news agency reported. A total of 417,161 tests were conducted on Friday, it said. Turkey started mass Covid-19 vaccination on January 14, 2021, after the authorities approved the emergency use of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine. More than 57.33 million people have received their first doses of the vaccine, while over 52.25 million had their second doses. Turkey has so far administered over 140.66 million doses, including third booster jabs.