Metro cities of the country enter the last week of 2021 with several restrictions brought back to arrest the spread of Omicron, the latest variant of SARS-CoV-2. According to scientific projections, India's Covid-19 cases will increase in January and the peak of a likely third wave will arrive in the first week of February. Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan will brief the Election Commission regarding the Omicron situation as five states -- Goa, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Uttar Pradesh will go to the polls in 2022.
Here are the top 10 developments
1. Delhi government has decided to reimpose the night curfew from 11pm to 5am starting from Monday as Delhi reported 290 fresh Covid cases on Sunday, which was the highest since June 10.
2. Karnataka on Sunday announced night curfew starting from December 28, which will continue for 10 days. The curfew will be from 10pm to 5am. There will be no New Year celebrations at pubs, restaurants and hotels in the state.
3. Maharashtra on Sunday reported 31 new cases of Omicron, taking the tally of Omicron cases to 141, the highest in the country. Mumbai has 73 Omicron cases, including the 27 reported on Sunday.
4. Kerala on Sunday reported 19 more Omicron cases, which took the Omicron tally of the state to 57.
5. Madhya Pradesh reported its first cases of the Omicron variant on Sunday. Nine foreign returnees were found infected with this strain in Indore.
{{/usCountry}}5. Madhya Pradesh reported its first cases of the Omicron variant on Sunday. Nine foreign returnees were found infected with this strain in Indore.
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6. Maharashtra has already announced restrictions that more than five people will not be allowed to gather between 9pm and 5am. The government has placed a cap on the number of people attending events.
7. A new cluster outbreak has been reported in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district after 48 students and three teachers of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya tested positive for Covid.
8. According to the health ministry's tally published early on Sunday, 422 Omicron cases were reported across 17 states and UTs, of which 130 people have recovered. The tally has gone up by the end of the day.
9. In the coming days, the government will decide the modalities of its ‘precaution dose’ roll-out. Frontline workers and senior citizens with comorbidities will be eligible to receive this dose starting from January 10.
10. Children between the age of 15 to 18 years will also be given Covid vaccine starting from January 3.