ADITYA RAJ DAS
UNION Health Ministry today said the country has been reporting 10 thousand daily cases since 26th of December and stressedd the need for heightened vigil in view of sharp increase in cases.
Briefing media in Delhi, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry Luv Aggarwal said, 961 Omicron variant cases have been reported in India till date. Out of this, 320 recoveries have been reported. He said, most cases reported from Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Kerala and Telengana. He said that continued surveillance is going on in India since 24th November when the first Omicron variant case was reported in South Africa. The Centre has requested states to work on restrictions and containment measures.
The weekly positivity rate of more than 10 per cent is being noted in eight districts including six districts from Mizoram, one from Arunachal Pradesh and one from Kolkata in West Bengal. Mr Aggarwal said, approximately 90 per cent of the adult population in India has been vaccinated against COVID with the first dose.
ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava said all COVID vaccines, whether they are from India, Israel, US, Europe, UK or China, are primarily disease-modifying. He said, they do not prevent infection and stressed that the precautionary dose is primarily to mitigate the severity of infection, hospitalization and death. He said, use of masks before and after vaccination is a must and mass gatherings should be avoided. He added that the treatment guidelines for the earlier and the currently circulating strains of coronavirus remain the same and home isolation remains an important pillar.