Omicron Variant: Global COVID caseload tops 397 mn

The governors of four states announced plans Monday to lift statewide mask requirements in schools by the end of February or March, citing the rapid easing of COVID-19′s omicron surge.

The decisions in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey and Oregon were announced as state and local governments grapple with which virus restrictions to jettison and which ones to keep in place. The changes also come amid a growing sense that the virus is never going to go away and Americans need to find a way to coexist with it.

Maharashtra on Tuesday recorded 6,107 new coronavirus cases, 329 less than the day ago, and 57 fresh deaths linked to the infection, while 16,035 more patients recovered from the disease, the state health department said. With these additions, the overall tally of COVID-19 cases increased to 78,16,243, while the death toll jumped to 1,43,155, the department said in a bulletin. As per the bulletin, the number of recovered cases in Maharashtra increased to 75,73,069 after 16,035 patients were discharged during the day, leaving the state with 96,069 active cases.

The Haryana Chief Minister's Flying Squad has raided a diagnostic lab accused of preparing fake coronavirus reports, officials said on Tuesday. The team nabbed a lab assistant while the operator managed to flee. The lab allegedly charged Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 to issue COVID-19 positive or negative reports.

Rajasthan on Tuesday reported 3,479 fresh COVID-19 cases and 16 more deaths due to the viral disease, according to health department data. Jaipur reported 1,140 fresh cases, Jodhpur 300, Udaipur 221, Ganganagar 174, Alwar 120, Kota 119 and Bhilwara 112, the data showed. Of the latest deaths, four were reported from Jaipur; two each from Bikaner and Jodhpur; and one each from Ajmer, Alwar, Baran, Churu, Jhunjhunu, Kota, Sikar and Sirohi.

The Kerala government on Tuesday decided to ease COVID-19 restrictions and asked schools and colleges in the state to prepare for functioning in a full-fledged manner from the end of February. The COVID-19 evaluation meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has instructed the schools to get ready by this month's end.

Meghalaya on Tuesday recorded 158 new COVID-19 cases, 86 more than the previous day, with the tally mounting to 92,521, a health department official said. The death toll rose to 1,552 as four more people succumbed to the disease, he said. Of the fresh cases, 52 were reported from East Khasi Hills, 35 from West Garo Hills, 21 from West Jaintia Hills and 17 from Ri Bhoi. The remaining infections were registered in eight other districts.

Karnataka on Tuesday reported 4,452 new cases and 51 fatalities, taking the tally to 39,06,761 and toll to 39,447. There were 19,067 discharges today, pushing the total number of recoveries to 37,94,866, a health bulletin said. Of the new cases, 2,139 were from Bengaluru Urban that saw 8,604 people being discharged and 17 virus-related deaths. The total number of active cases across the state is now 72,414.

Due to the outbreak of Covid19, the conduct of Census 2021 & related field activities have been postponed until further orders. Till now, the Govt has not taken any decision to prepare the National Register of Indian citizens at the National level, said MoS Home Nityanand Rai in Parliament. 4,844 people have been granted Indian citizenship during the last five years, he said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday said there has been 5.33 lakh deaths so far from the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. He also informed that insurance claims worth Rs 808 crore have been paid under the 'Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package' (PMGKP) insurance scheme, launched on March 30, 2020, to families of 1,616 healthcare workers who died while being involved in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

Replying to a supplementary question asked by Congress MP K C Venugopal related to Covid deaths in Rajya Sabha, Mandaviya said health is a state subject and the related data is collected by the states and then reported to the central government.

As per the information on Co-WIN, 28,22,459 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered to pregnant women till February 2, Rajya Sabha was informed Tuesday. Out of 28,22,459 vaccine doses, 16,53,768 beneficiaries have received first dose and 11,68,691 women have received both the doses of COVID-19 vaccine, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said in a written reply.

Omicron variant is the dominant variant in the country presently and the current surge of COVID-19 cases in the country is showing a sustained declining trend since January 21, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

With the reporting of Omicron, a highly mutated variant of SARSCoV-2 virus and its classification as a Variant of Concern (VoC) by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Union Ministry of Health revised its 'Guidelines for international arrivals', Mandaviya said in a written reply.

With COVID-19 cases declining, the Lakshadweep administration has decided to ease some restrictions imposed in the islands. The administration said no COVID-19 test result was now required for inter-island travel for those who have taken both vaccine doses 14 days prior to movement. Inter-island travel was hitherto restricted to those carrying RT-PCR/True Nat negative certificates from the health department.

The third wave of COVID-19 triggered by the Omicron variant appears to have come to an end in Telangana, a senior health official said on Tuesday, even as he stressed on COVID-appropriate behaviour and vaccination. "In the third wave, cases started rising from December 28, 2021. We have seen the peak on January 28. We are witnessing a decline in number of cases since then," state Director of Public Health G Srinivasa Rao told reporters

The vaccine-induced protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection wanes within a few months, but protection against severe COVID-19 appears to be better maintained, according to a study published in The Lancet journal. Researchers noted that the protection wanes at different speeds depending on the type of vaccine used. "The bad news is that the protection against infection seems to be diminished by seven months after the second dose of vaccine," said Peter Nordstrom, a professor at Umea University in Sweden.

Odisha recorded 21 more COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday, including a three-month-old infant, pushing the toll to 8,775, the health department said. The caseload rose to 12,69,811 with 1,503 fresh infections, it said. The state had logged 1,497 new cases and 22 deaths on Monday.

Russia registered 171,905 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, fewer cases for the first time since January 10, taking the national tally to 12,982,023, the official monitoring and response center said.

The nationwide death toll grew by 609, the lowest increase since June 27, 2021, to 336,023, and the number of recoveries increased by 55,683 to 10,624,954 on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Moscow, Russia's worst-hit region, reported 15,442 new cases, taking its total to 2,511,333.

The global coronavirus caseload has topped 397 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 5.74 million and vaccinations to over 10.07 billion, according to Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Tuesday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and the death toll stood at 397,053,590 and 5,749,136, respectively, while the total number of vaccine doses administered has increased to 10,071,840,408.

The Washington National Cathedral paid tribute to the over 905,000 lives claimed by the Covid-19 pandemic in the US.

On Monday evening, the funeral bell at the cathedral tolled 900 times, once for every 1,000 people who had died since the pandemic started in early 2020, reports Xinhua news agency.

The mourning, also livestreamed on social media, took nearly 90 minutes.

The Covid-19 vaccination certificates of 324,000 people in Greece who did not take their booster shots have became invalid, the government announced.

According to current regulations in Greece, the vaccination certificates are valid for seven months from the day of the second vaccination for those who received the double-dose vaccines, and three months for those with single-shot vaccines, reports Xinhua news agency.

Booster shots may be administered three months after a completed vaccination.

There is good news for Mumbaikars. Mumbai will be unlocked by the end of this month. We have made up our minds, but it is essential for the people to wear masks and observe social distancing: Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar

Homegrown pharmaceutical firm Wockhardt on Tuesday said it has received approval from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) to export up to 10 crore doses of Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik. The approval is for the export of up to 8 crore doses of Sputnik Light and up to 2 crore doses of Sputnik V Component I vaccines, Wockhardt Ltd said in a regulatory filing.

The company's bulk vaccine and fill-finish manufacturing facilities at Waluj and Shendra, Aurangabad, were "jointly inspected and approved by Drug inspectors from CDSCO (West zone) and Aurangabad State FDA and expert from CDL (Central Drugs Laboratory) Kasauli" to receive the export NOC (no objection certificate), it added.

Among the many hard lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic is that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid infections, can affect every organ system in the body, including the brain.

Approximately one third of all patients with Covid may develop neurological complications from infection, and many patients present to hospitals with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) or "brain attack", caused by the sudden blockage of blood flow to or within the brain.

Clinicians from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and 29 other stroke centres across the US and Canada report that patients with Covid-19 who experience AIS appear to be at higher risk for severe disability and death compared with stroke patients treated in the pre-Covid era.

Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday reported 139 new COVID-19 cases, taking its tally to 63,619, a senior health official said.
The toll rose to 292 after a 65-year-old woman from the Capital Complex Region died due to acute respiratory distress syndrome with COVID pneumonia, he said.

Capital Complex Region reported 22 of the new cases, followed by Lower Subansiri (21), Lohit (19), Namsai (13) and Tawang (12), the official said.

Among the new patients, 78 have Covid symptoms, the official said.

India reports 67,597 fresh COVID cases, 1,80,456 recoveries and 1,188 deaths in the last 24 hours. 

Active cases: 9,94,891 (2.35%)
Death toll: 5,02,874
Daily positivity rate: 5.02%

Total vaccination: 1,70,21,72,615