Desk, 29-Dec; The total count of the highly transmissible coronavirus variant Omicron has reached 781 in India. The variant of concern that was first detected in South Africa in November has now spread to 21 states in the country.Delhi has the highest Omicron count with 238 cases, followed by Maharashtra with 167 cases.India reported 9,195 fresh COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, 44 per cent higher than yesterday’s 6,358 cases. The government has been continuously speeding up vaccination drive across the country.Over 143 crore vaccine doses have been administered in India, making a significant milestone in the fight against COVID-19.The recovery rate is currently at 98.40 per cent, highest since March 2020.At least 7,347 people have recovered in the last 24 hours. The total number of people who have recovered is 3,42,51,292.Active cases account for less than 1 per cent of total cases, currently at 0.22 per cent, lowest since March 2020.The active caseload stands at 77,002. The weekly positivity rate of 0.68 per cent is less than 1 per cent for the last 45 days.Daily positivity rate of 0.79 per cent is less than 2 per cent for the last 86 days.The risk posed by the Omicron variant is still “very high”, the World Health Organisation said today, after COVID-19 case numbers shot up by 11 per cent globally last week. Omicron is behind rapid virus spikes in several countries, including those where it has already overtaken the previously dominant Delta variant, the WHO said in its weekly epidemiological update.It said early data from Britain, South Africa and Denmark — which currently has the world’s highest rate of infection per person — suggested there was a reduced risk of hospitalisation for Omicron compared to Delta.However, further data was needed to understand Omicron’s severity in terms of clinical markers, including the use of oxygen, mechanical ventilation and death.(CNS)
