Omicron Variant LIVE Updates: Covid vaccines may protect from severe disease caused by Omicron, says study

Bihar reported 2,362 new COVID 19 cases on Tuesday, an increase of more than 500 since the previous day, though the active caseload remained on the decline as the number of those recovering from the disease exceeded fresh infections, a health department official said. Four COVID patients died in the last 24 hours, raising the death toll to 12,197, he said.

Pfizer is enrolling healthy adults to test a reformulated COVID-19 vaccine that matches the hugely contagious omicron variant, to see how it compares with the original shots. Pfizer and its partner BioNTech announced the study on Tuesday.

The cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 163.49 crore on Tuesday, the Union Health Ministry said. More than 51 lakh (51,64,473) vaccine doses have been administered till 7 pm. Over 93 lakh (93,53,837) precaution doses have been given to healthcare workers, frontline workers and citizens aged 60 and above with comorbidities so far.

Maharashtra on Tuesday recorded 33,914 new coronavirus cases, including 13 of the Omicron variant, and a sharp jump in deaths at 86, the state health department said. The daily figure is a jump of 5,628 from 28,286 coronavirus cases registered a day ago. On Monday, the state had recorded 36 deaths linked to the infection.

The number of COVID-19 patients in the Czech Republic has begun to grow amid a record surge of infections driven by the highly contagious omicron variant. According to figures released by Health Ministry, the number of hospitalized jumped to 1,695 on Monday, up from 1,537 the previous day.

The International Monetary Fund is downgrading its forecast for the world economy this year, citing the spread of COVID-19's omicron variant, higher energy prices, an uptick in inflation and financial strains in China. The 190-country lending agency now forecasts the global economy will expand 4.4% in 2022. That's down from an estimated 5.9% last year and from the 4.9% the IMF was forecasting for 2022 back in October.

The coronavirus caseload in Andhra Pradesh crossed 22 lakh while the number of active cases crossed one-lakh with the addition of 13,819 fresh infections on Tuesday. The last one lakh cases came in a span of 10 days with the state registering over 10,000 fresh positives per day over the past few days.

Pfizer has begun a study comparing its original COVID-19 vaccine with doses specially tweaked to match the hugely contagious omicron variant. Pfizer and its partner BioNTech announced the study on Tuesday.

Three Indian-origin youths were among four people charged in a Singapore court on Tuesday for flouting Covid-19 rules in a New Year party held at a popular river-side spot. The chargings came after videos went viral online showing large crowds at Clarke Quay area on Dec 31, 2021. The COVID-19 multi-ministry task force had called the impromptu gathering "a potential superspreading event", Channel News Asia (CNA) reported.

Current COVID-19 vaccines prompt the body to make effective, long-lasting T cells against SARS-CoV-2 that can recognise variants of concern, including Omicron, and protect from severe disease, a study has found. The research, published in the journal Cell, also shows that fully vaccinated people have fewer memory B cells and neutralising antibodies against the Omicron variant. Both T and B cells play an important role in the immune response against an infection.

The United Kingdom on Monday said it has removed all COVID-19 testing requirements for fully vaccinated travellers, including those from India, arriving in the UK from next month. A travel advisory issued by the Department of Transport and the Department of Health and Social Care announced that beginning 4 am on February 11 all testing requirements will be removed for eligible fully vaccinated arrivals, with only a Passenger Locator Form (PLF) now required.

The Delhi government does not want livelihood of people to be affected and Covid restrictions will be eased as soon as possible, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asserted on Tuesday, saying the city's positivity rate has reduced to 10 per cent in 10 days. Restrictions were put in place in view of people's health, Kejriwal said after hoisting the national flag at the Delhi government's Republic Day function.

Ladakh has reported 163 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the tally to 24,818 while the active cases in the union territory has come down to 1244, officials said. The union territory has recorded 222 Covid-related deaths -- 164 in Leh and 58 in Kargil -- since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, they said.

There was no death reported from union territory on Monday, they said.

As many as 174 patients were cured and discharged from hospitals in Ladakh. Of these, 129 were discharged in Leh and 45 in Kargil, they said.
With these, the total number of cured patients is 23,352, they said.

Of the total of 163 fresh cases from the Union territory, 129 such cases were reported from Leh district and 34 from Kargil district, they said. 

The United Kingdom on Monday said it has removed all COVID-19 testing requirements for fully vaccinated travellers, including those from India, arriving in the UK from next month. A travel advisory issued by the Department of Transport and the Department of Health and Social Care announced that beginning 4 am on February 11 all testing requirements will be removed for eligible fully vaccinated arrivals, with only a Passenger Locator Form (PLF) now required.

Arrivals who are not recognised as fully vaccinated will only need to take a pre-departure test and a PCR test on or before Day Two after they arrive in the UK, according to the changes announced on January 24. 

They will not need to self-isolate on arrival, and will only need to do so on receipt of a positive result.

South Korea recorded more than 8,000 new coronavirus infections for the first time Tuesday as health authorities reshape the country's pandemic response to address a surge driven by the highly contagious omicron variant.

The 8,571 new cases reported by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency followed three straight days exceeding 7,000. With omicron spreading more than twice as fast as the delta strain that cause the last surge, experts say new cases may exceed 10,000 this week and possibly 20,000 after the Lunar New Year's holiday break that begins this weekend and continues to next Wednesday.

To prevent a sudden explosion of infections from overwhelming hospitals and disrupting workplaces and essential services, South Korea will reduce quarantine periods, expand testing and treat more people at home.

Hong Kong expanded a partial lockdown and tightened pandemic restrictions Tuesday after more than 200 cases of COVID-19 were discovered at a public housing estate.

Hong Kong has already suspended many overseas flights and requires arrivals be quarantined, similar to mainland China's “zero-tolerance” approach to the virus that has placed millions under lockdowns and mandates mask wearing, rigorous case tracing and mass testing.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said a second residential block at the Kwai Chung housing complex would be locked down for five days. The block where the virus was first discovered is already under lockdown, which will now be extended from five to seven days.

Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday recorded 668 fresh COVID-19 infections, the highest single-day tally this month, which pushed the caseload to 60,072. The frontier state had recorded 462 cases on Monday. The toll increased to 283 after a tourist from Assam succumbed to the infection at a health facility in Tawang, State Surveillance Officer (SSO) Dr Lobsang Jampa said.

Of the 668 new cases, 284 were registered in the Capital Complex Region, 44 in Lower Dibang Valley, 39 in Changlang and 31 each in Papumpare and Lower Subansiri.

Fashion designer Tom Ford has cancelled his Fall 2020 runway show at the New York Fashion Week amid the surge in COVID-19 cases spurred by the Omicron variant.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, Ford was set to close out New York Fashion Week on February 16, which kicks off on February 11, but the designer announced recently that the company's staff has been heavily affected by COVID and will not be ready to hold the upcoming show.

"I am incredibly disappointed not to be able to present a show during New York Fashion Week as I feel strongly that a live presentation is the best way to convey a clear message for the season," Ford said in a statement obtained by the outlet.

COVID positivity rate has reduced by 20% in the last 10 days. Today it's about 10%, opposed to 30% positivity rate on January 15. All of this is because of the consistent pace of vaccination, says Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal

Soon we will try to do away with (COVID) restrictions and bring your life back to normalcy, will make all efforts in that direction, says Kejriwal at a program on the sidelines of Republic Day, in Delhi

The Venezuelan government has added Spain to its list of permitted passenger air travel destinations almost two years after the suspension of flights due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Institute of Civil Aviation (INAC) said in a statement.

"Commercial air travel is only permitted between the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Turkey, Mexico, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Russia, Cuba and Spain," the regulator said on Twitter.

India reports less than 3 lakh COVID cases- 2,55,874 new cases (50,190 less than yesterday), 614 deaths and 2,67,753 recoveries in the last 24 hours

Active case: 22,36,842
Daily positivity rate: 15.52%

Mizoram reports 2,223 new cases. Active cases 10,704

The Raj Bhawan on Monday night decided to cancel this year's Republic Day 'At Home' reception in view of the spike in coronavirus cases in Jammu and Kashmir. Liutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has urged the people of the Union Territory to follow Covid Appropriate Behaviour (CAB) and safety protocols issued by the health officials, a Raj Bhawan spokesman said.

Jammu and Kashmir on Monday recorded 5,394 fresh cases of coronavirus taking the infection count to 4,02,596 while eight deaths due to the virus were reported in the past 24 hours, officials said.

Uttar Pradesh's COVID-19 death toll rose to 23,073 on Monday with the addition of 17 fatalities, while the infection count reached 19,57,839 after detection of 11,159 fresh cases, according to an official statement. Of the 17 new fatalities, three deaths were reported from Moradabad, followed by two deaths each in Varanasi and Azamgarh, the Uttar Pradesh government said in a statement issued.

In the past 24 hours, 10,836 COVID-19 patients recovered from the disease, taking the number of recoveries to 18,40,842. More than 1.86 lakh samples were tested in the same period, while so far over 9.81 crore samples have been tested for detection of COVID-19 in the state, the statement said.

The count of active COVID-19 cases in the state stands at 93,924, it said.

Players of two Pro Kabaddi League teams have tested positive for COVID-19, forcing rescheduling of some of the matches here, the organisers announced on Monday. 

“After the successful completion of the first half of the league-stage ..., two of the 12 PKL teams have found it difficult to field the requisite number of 12 players for their respective matches due to some players in these teams testing positive for Covid-19," the organisers Mashal Sports said in a statement.

"To ensure the continuity of matches in the present environment, Mashal Sports together with all PKL teams, have proactively rescheduled some of the matches and will continue to review the situation," the statement added.

The PKL season is currently being played here in a strict bio-bubble.

West Bengal on Monday recorded 4,546 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the tally to 19,69,791, while 37 more fatalities raised the toll to 20,375, a health department bulletin said. The state had on Sunday logged 6,980 fresh infections and 36 deaths due to the disease.

The positivity rate came down to 8.84 per cent from Sunday’s 9.53 per cent, and the number of active cases currently has 94,535, down by 15,648 from the previous day's count.

At least 20,157 recoveries were reported in West Bengal in the past 24 hours, which improved the discharge rate to 94.17 per cent.

Altogether, 18,54,881 people have been cured of the disease so far.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will interact virtually with the health ministers of nine states and union territories over the COVID-19 situation at 10:30 am today. According to sources, these states and UTs include Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Ladakh, Uttar Pradesh and Chandigarh.

Earlier, Union Health Minister had interacted with the Health Ministers and Principal Secretaries of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Goa and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman Diu.

Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal will chair the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) meeting on January 27 over the COVID situation in the national capital. According to sources, a decision may be taken to lift restrictions like weekend curfew and the odd-even system in the markets in view of the decreasing COVID cases in Delhi.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will also be present in the DDMA meeting scheduled to be held on Thursday.

Last week, the Delhi government allowed all private offices in the National Capital Territory of Delhi, outside of Containment Zones, to function with upto 50 per cent attendance. The DDMA had, however, advised the private offices to stagger office timing, presence and quantum of staff.

Protests underway in West Bengal's Siliguri against the closure of educational institutions amid COVID-19