No evidence for now that our vaccines won’t work says Government
Staff reporter / New Delhi
As many as 101 positive cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus have been detected across 11 states and union territories so far, the government said on Friday and advised people to keep new year celebrations at low intensity.
It said that though daily COVID-19 cases are below 10,000 for the past 20 days, there is a need to stay vigilant in view of the new variant and rising cases in other countries.
With ten fresh cases in Delhi, two in Telangana, India’s total tally rises to 101 with Maharashtra reporting 32 cases, Delhi 22, Rajasthan 17, Karnataka 8, Telangana 8, Gujarat 5, Kerala 5, Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal one case each.
“Most cases of Omicron are reported by people with an international travel history. Contact tracing of such cases is also being done,” said India top health official.
India’s Health Ministry on Friday also said that there is no evidence that the vaccines will not work against the Omicron strain of coronavirus. “Right now there is no evidence that our vaccines will not work. People who contracted the infection even after being vaccinated have reported mild symptoms”, Lav Agarwal said. He emphasised the need to get vaccinated.
The government said, with the coronavirus’ Omicron variant spreading very fast across Europe and other parts of the world, people need to avoid non-essential travel. They must also avoid mass gatherings, and new year celebrations need to be at low intensity, the government said.
India has so far administered a total of 82.82 crore of first doses and 53.72 crore of second doses.
More than 136 crore doses have been administered in the country which is 2.8 times the total doses administered in USA (48.6 crore)