Karnataka records 5 new Omicron cases from 2 cluster outbreaks, informs State Health Min

Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar informed on Saturday that two cluster outbreaks of COVID-19, which includes five more cases of Omicron variant,  have been reported from two educational institutions in the Dakshina Kannada district of the state. 

Taking to Twitter, Health Minister wrote:

On December 2, India's first two Omicron cases-- a South African national who has left the country, and the other a local person, a Doctor with no travel history, were detected in the state of Karnataka.

Meanwhile, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Friday, December 17, informed that no decision has been taken so far regarding the compulsory quarantine for international arrivals from ‘at-risk’ countries. It clarified that the decision has not been made for such passengers, even if they test negative for COVID-19. Earlier, Karnataka Health and Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar had said that all passengers must undergo home quarantine even after testing negative for Coronavirus.

Omicron tally crosses 100 in India

Amid the ongoing scare of the spread of the newly detected Omicron Variant, the Health Ministry on Friday informed that around 101 cases of the Omicron variant have been detected across 11 states in the country so far. Lav Agrawal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry, informed during the Health Ministry’s briefing that there are over 100 Omicron cases across 11 states in India and the ‘highly mutated’ variant has been reported in 91 countries in the world.

He informed that as per the World Health Organization’s prediction, Omicron is spreading faster than the Delta variant in South Africa, where the circulation of the Delta variant was low. He added that WHO had also warned that ‘It's likely that the Omicron will outpace Delta variant,’ where community transmission occurs. Speaking further about India’s COVID-19 situation, he said daily new cases were recorded below 10,000 for the past 20 days and the case positivity for the last 1 week was 0.65%.

On December 17 the country's COVID-19 Task Force Chief and a member of NITI Aayog, Dr VK Paul, stated the need to be cautious and prepared in the wake of the emergence of the latest strain. Addressing Health Ministry's briefing in the national capital, Dr Paul drew parallels with the worrying pandemic scenario in the United Kingdom and highlighted the potential spread in the Indian population.