Where does India stand on the world Omicron graph? 10 points
Mumbai, Kolkata, Thane, Mumbai Suburban, Bengaluru Urban, Punem Chennai, 24 Parganas (West Bengal) are the emerging districts of concern.
India on Wednesday confirmed the first Omicron-related death that took place on December 31, 2021. The health ministry said though the 73-year-old man who was hospitalised since December 15 last year had comorbidities, his genome sequencing report said he was infected by the Omicron variant. He was found negative on December 21 and his reports came on December 26, six days before he passed away. "Our guidelines state that if a coronavirus positive patient dies, it is considered as COVID-19 fatality. Similarly, if a person is found to be Omicron positive, even if it is detected late, we will consider that as Omicron positive case only," Lav Agarwal, joint secretary of the health ministry said.
As on January 5 morning, India reported 2,135 cases of Omicron in 24 states and UTs, including 828 recovered and 1,306 active cases. The Centre termed the rise in the overall Covid cases in the country as exponential.
On January 4, around 25.2 lakh cases of the infection were recorded all over the world which is "the highest ever since the onset of the pandemic".
Watch: India records 1st Omicron death in Rajasthan; Health Ministry warns of 6.3 times spike in cases
Here are 10 points about India's present Covid-19 situation and Omicron
1. India stands 12th as far as the number of Omicron cases are concerned following the United Kingdom, Denmark, the US, Germany, Canada, Norway, Austria, France, Estonia and Israel, according to the Centre.
2. Mumbai, Kolkata, Thane, Mumbai Suburban, Bengaluru Urban, Punem Chennai, 24 Parganas (West Bengal) are the emerging districts of concern.
Tamil Nadu imposes complete lockdown on Sundays, night curfew from tomorrow
3. India has reported an increase of more than 6.3 times in the number of cases in the last eight days and a sharp increase in the case positivity rate from 0.79 per cent on December 29 to 5.03 per cent on January 5
4. Omicron is becoming the dominant variant in cities, the health ministry said.
5. Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain said the third wave of the pandemic has already hit the Capital. 65% of Covid samples in Delhi, whose genome sequencing reports came out between January 1 and 3, were found to have the Omicron variant as against 28 per cent from December 1 to 31, official data showed.
6. The R-value of Covid in India is 2.69, higher than 1.69 which was recorded at the peak of the second wave of the pandemic in India. The acceleration of cases is steeper than ever, the health ministry said.
7. 28 districts in India are reporting more than 10% weekly positivity while 43 districts are reporting a weekly positivity rate between 5% and 10%.
8. The worsening situation has impacted political campaigns as the Congress on Wednesday cancelled four rallies scheduled in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.
9. States continued extending restrictions to contain the spread of the infection by imposing night curfews, weekend curfews and by suspending physical classes in schools and colleges. The Gautam Buddha Nagar district administration on Wednesday ordered that the schools for classes 6 to 10 will remain closed till January 14. Tamil Nadu announced a night curfew starting from January 6. The Maharashtra government decided to discontinue physical classes in colleges and universities till February 15.
10. According to experts, coming four to six weeks are crucial for India as global instances show the surge driven by Omicron is not prolonged.
