Omicron Coronavirus 4 December Highlights: Maharashtra man who returned from South Africa tests positive for Omicron, fourth case in India

The 33-year-old passenger who arrived in Mumbai on November 24, 2021 from Capetown, South Africa through Dubai and Delhi is the first patient with Omicron variant in Maharashtra. He is a resident of Kalyan-Dombivli municipal area and has not taken any Covid-19 vaccine.

On November 24, the passenger got mild fever. However, no other symptoms were observed. He is being treated at the Covid Care Centre in Kalyan-Dombivli.

Twelve of the passenger's high-risk contacts and 23 of the low-risk contacts have been traced and all have tested negative for Covid-19. Additionally, 25 of the co-passengers from the Delhi-Mumbai flight have also tested negative. More contacts are currently being traced. 

A man who returned from South Africa to Maharashtra’s Mumbai via Dubai and Delhi has tested positive for Omicron variant of coronavirus.

This is the fourth Omicron case to be detected in India. Earlier in the day, a 71-year old NRI, who landed in Gujarat’s Jamnagar city from Zimbabwe was found to be infected with the Omicron variant, according to the nodal officer of Covid-19 in the city.

The Delhi airport authorities on Saturday said 20 dedicated counters have been set up for the passengers arriving from "at risk" countries and having pre-booked their mandatory Covid-19 test, after many flyers complained of chaos and crowding at the terminal following the implementation of new travel guidelines.

There will be dedicated queues for these passengers, Delhi International Airport Limited said. They will save the time taken for registration and will proceed directly for testing, it added. (PTI)

After a case of Omicron was found in Gujarat's Jamnagar, CM Bhupendra Patel reviewed the readiness of state health system, ANI reported. He gave clear instructions to proceed with the strategy of tracing, testing, and treatment in positive cases, as per the guidelines of the Centre.

The CM also appealed to all citizens to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour such as social distancing and wearing masks, the Chief Minister's Office stated.

CM gave clear instructions to proceed with the strategy of tracing, testing, and treatment in positive cases. He also appealed to all citizens to use social distancing, masks to the fullest, urging them to be vigilant and cautious even in the context of this new variant: CMO pic.twitter.com/9FLhhJykCA

— ANI (@ANI) December 4, 2021

The Omicron variant of the virus that causes Covid-19 likely acquired at least one of its mutations by picking up a snippet of genetic material from another virus – possibly one that causes the common cold – present in the same infected cells, according to researchers.

This genetic sequence does not appear in any earlier versions of the coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2, but is ubiquitous in many other viruses including those that cause the common cold, and also in the human genome, researchers said.

By inserting this particular snippet into itself, Omicron might be making itself look “more human,” which would help it evade attack by the human immune system, said Venky Soundararajan of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based data analytics firm Nference, who led the study posted on Thursday on the website OSF Preprints. Read more

The Union health ministry on Saturday wrote to Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha and Mizoram to take necessary steps under the 'Test-Track-Treat-Vaccinate-Covid Appropriate Behaviour' strategy to control the spread of Covid-19 and reduce fatality. The move comes in view of rising cases of the infection, weekly positivity rates and weekly deaths in some districts. 

In a letter addressed to the principal secretary (Health), he pointed out that Karnataka has reported a slight increase in weekly new cases. The secretary further said Kerala has reported 1,71,521 new cases in the month ending December 3, with a contribution of 55.8 per cent to the country's new cases from over the past month.

As for Jammu and Kashmir, Bhushan said, a few districts such as Kathua, Jammu, Ganderbal and Baramulla showed an increase in the previous week. In Tamil Nadu, Vellore, Thiruvallur and Chennai showed an increase in weekly new cases in the past week. In Mizoram, it is important to note that Aizawl district is reporting a high quantum of weekly new cases. (PTI)

India should prioritise double vaccinating its eligible population against Covid over booster shots given the large number of people still to get the base layer of protection against the infection, say scientists.

Concerns over the Omicron variant and waning vaccine-induced protection against the infection have highlighted the need for boosters to protect the most vulnerable. And while many countries have already started giving booster shots, several experts here said the priority in India has to be different given that large-scale immunisation programme began only six-eight months go.

In advocating putting boosters on the back-burner for the moment, the experts’ opinion runs counter to the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Sequencing Consortium (INSACOG) that has recommended a booster dose for those above 40 years in high-risk and high-exposure populations. Read more

Dr Sikhulile Moyo was analyzing Covid-19 samples in his lab in Botswana last week when he noticed they looked startlingly different from others. Within days, the world was ablaze with the news that the coronavirus had a new variant of concern — one that appears to be driving a dramatic surge in South Africa and offering a glimpse of where the pandemic might be headed.

Little is known about the new variant, but the spike in South Africa suggests it might be more contagious, said Moyo, the scientist who may have been the first to identify the new variant, though researchers in neighboring South Africa were close on his heels.

It’s not clear if the variant causes more serious illness or can evade the protection of vaccines. Phaahla noted that only a small number of people who have been vaccinated have gotten sick, mostly with mild cases, while the vast majority of those who have been hospitalized were not vaccinated. Read more

A 30-year-old NRI woman, who landed at Ahmedabad International Airport from London on Friday night, has tested positive for Covid-19.

Ahmedabad chief district health officer Satish Parmar said that of the 222 passengers on the flight, the 30-year-old woman, who holds a US passport, was the only one to test positive for the virus. The sample has been sent to Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC) for genome sequencing to ascertain the specific strain. 

“The woman had tested positive some 10-12 days ago at UK and had tested negative on December 1. Upon arrival at Ahmedabad, she tested positive again,” Parmar added. Read more

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has released a set of rules to ensure proper monitoring of travellers coming in from ‘at risk’ countries and under home quarantine amid the Omicron threat.

According to the new guidelines, every day, Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) will share a list of international travellers arriving at Mumbai from ‘at risk’ and ‘high risk’ countries, and those who have visited such countries in the last 15 days. The list, however, will only include names of passengers who reside in Mumbai.

“The war room staff will call passengers under home quarantine five times a day. They will ask them about symptoms and request them to stay at home for seven days. The staff will also make physical visits to such homes to ensure that the protocols are being followed,” an official from BMC said. BMC further stated that if housing societies found that a person was not following the protocols, they can inform the ward war rooms. Read more

Ten months after the mass immunisation programme against Covid-19 began in the state, Acting Chief Secretary Debashis Chakraborty took his first dose of the vaccine on Thursday.

Chakraborty took a shot of Covaxin at the government-run JJ Hospital. Sources at the hospital said that after the matter became public, the bureaucrat held senior doctors at the hospital responsible for ‘leaking’ his personal details. Read more

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday launched the party's online campaign demanding compensation for the families of those who died of Covid and accused the government of sleeping while people coped with pain and loss.

On its official Twitter handle, the Congress party said the aim of the campaign was to demand that the central government disclose the actual number of Covid deaths in the country, and "properly compensate all families of the victims with Rs 4 lakh". "#SpeakUpForCovidNyay so the govt is forced to disclose the correct number of Covid deaths," it said. "By making up false numbers, the Modi government is not only withholding compensation for lakhs of families, but it is simply trying to cover up its failure in managing and controlling the pandemic," the party said.

When it comes to people’s pain & loss, GOI is sleeping.

Let’s wake them up! #SpeakUpforCovidNyay

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) December 4, 2021

The Omicron variant of the coronavirus was confirmed in the sample of a 71-year-old NRI who landed in Gujarat’s Jamnagar from Zimbabwe on November 28, the third such case in the country.

While the (genome sequencing) report from NIV Pune is expected on Monday, the GBRC has confirmed the presence of the Omicron variant in the sample, said Dr SS Chatterjee, nodal officer of Covid-19 for Jamnagar district. Jamnagar district collector Dr Sourabh Pardhi was informed about the presence of the variant by state-level authorities after the same was conveyed to the state health department by GBRC on Saturday.

Meanwhile, following the confirmation, an urgent meeting was held by Gujarat chief secretary Pankaj Kumar with additional chief secretary of health Manoj Aggarwal, health commissioner Jaiprakash Shivhare and other health officials. read more

The whole genome sequencing of a 71-year old man, who landed in Gujarat’s Jamnagar city from Zimbabwe, and tested positive for Covid-19 on December 2, has revealed that the patient is infected with the Omicron variant, according to a nodal officer of Covid-19 at Jamnagar, SS Chatterjee.

"The patient had come to Jamanagar on November 28. After developing symptoms of some respiratory disease, he got himself tested at a private lab in the city and the results returned positive. Therefore, he was isolated immediately in the Covid-19 hospital set up by Reliance Foundation in Dental College of Jamnagar," Chatterjee said.

The whole genome sequencing was done by the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre. Two samples of the patient were sent — one to the GBRC and another to NIV Pune. The whole genome sequencing report from the NIV is awaited.

The man is a citizen of Zimbabwe while his wife is from Jamnagar, where they were on a visit.

ndia should prioritise double vaccinating its eligible population against Covid over booster shots given the large number of people still to get the base layer of protection against the infection, say scientists. Concerns over the Omicron variant and waning vaccine-induced protection against the infection have highlighted the need for boosters to protect the most vulnerable.

And while many countries have already started giving booster shots, several experts here said the priority in India has to be different given that large-scale immunisation programme began only six-eight months go. In advocating putting boosters on the back-burner for the moment, the experts' opinion runs counter to the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Sequencing Consortium (INSACOG) that has recommended a booster dose for those above 40 years in high-risk and high-exposure populations.

India recorded 8,603 new coronavirus cases and 415 deaths in the last 24 hours ending 8 am Saturday. Active cases stand at 99,974 while 8,190 people recovered on Friday. 

There is currently no evidence to suggest that symptoms associated with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 are different or more severe than those of other variants, or that current vaccines and therapeutics would be ineffective against the new variant, according to a news report citing Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH).

Channel News Asia reported that the ministry said two more people infected with Omicron variant travelled through Singapore to Malaysia and Australia.

More data and further studies on Omicron are needed, the MOH said adding that it is expecting to see more such cases being reported globally in the coming weeks.

A decision on booster dose and Covid jabs for children will be taken on the basis of scientific guidance from experts, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Friday even as India stepped up surveillance for Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Replying to an 11-hour-long debate on the COVID-19 pandemic in Lok Sabha, Mandaviya said RT-PCR tests have been conducted on more than 16,000 passengers who arrived on 58 flights from "at-risk" countries, of whom 18 have tested positive for COVID-19. The minister said the swab samples of these 18 passengers have been sent for genome sequencing to screen for the Omicron variant of the virus.

The Centre on Friday said it anticipates the severity of the Omicron variant of coronavirus to be low in the country given the fast pace of vaccination and high exposure to the Delta variant, a day after the first two cases of the new variant was reported in Karnataka, and that a decision on a COVID vaccine booster dose will be on the basis of scientific guidance from experts.

The Union Health Ministry, however, said the scientific evidence for the expected severity of the disease is still evolving, as debates about the booster jabs heat up and several states ramp up testing and step up surveillance for the potentially more contagious variant.

Twelve suspected patients of Omicron, who flew in the national capital from "at risk" countries", are admitted to the Delhi government's LNJP hospital, according to a senior hospital official. Of these, eight are confirmed coronavirus patients while four have symptoms like sore throat, fever and history of contact with patients. Their samples have been sent for genome sequencing and the results will take four or five days, the official said. "Four patients are from UK, four from France, two from Netherlands, one from Belgium and one from Tanzania. Two of the patients are foreign nationals," said Dr Suresh Kumar, medical director of the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital.

mid growing concerns over the new Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, a parliamentary committee has recommended that the efficacy of Covid vaccines must be evaluated and concerns with regards to the new strain developing immunoescape mechanism critically addressed.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health, which presented its report on Friday, also recommended that the government should conduct more research and examine the need of administering booster doses of vaccines to contain the new strain of the virus. In its report, the committee said it apprehends that a rise in mutations in the virus may lead to reporting of more virulent and transmissible strain of the Covid virus in the country and strongly recommended the Union Health Ministry to adopt a zero-tolerance COVID-19 policy and closely track Covid cases across the country.

Sikkim reported a sudden spike in COVID-19 cases on Friday as 76 more people, including 65 inmates and staffers of Namchi Central Jail, tested positive for the infection, taking the Himalayan state's caseload to 32,343, a health bulletin said. The death toll remained unchanged at 403 as no fresh fatality was registered. Sixty inmates and five staffers of the Namchi Central Jail in South Sikkim district are among the new patients, it said.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Friday said over 10 international travellers who arrived in Bengaluru from South African countries have gone untraceable. The travellers have switched off their phones, officials said. More details here.

The Karnataka government Friday made malls and theatres out of bounds for people who haven’t taken both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. The new measure came after the detection of two Omicron cases in Bengaluru — the first in the country.

“Entry to malls, cinema halls/theatres shall be allowed only to persons who are vaccinated with two doses of COVID 19 vaccine,” the government said in an order issued by Tushar Girinath, Principal Secretary of the Revenue Department. People working in government offices must also be vaccinated with both doses, the Karnataka government has stated.

Nine members of a family in Jaipur tested positive for Covid-19, days after four of them returned from South Africa, putting the Health Department on alert amid concerns over the "Omicron" variant of the infection.

Those who returned from South Africa have been admitted to the hospital of the Rajasthan University of Health Sciences (RUHS) and swab samples of all nine people have been sent for genome sequencing to Jaipur's Sawai Man Singh Hospital, a health official told PTI.

As India confirmed two cases of Omicron, the World Health Organization on Friday said countries in the South-East Asia Region should further strengthen COVID-19 response measures to curtail the spread of the virus and its variants.

"Strengthening surveillance to rapidly detect importation of any new variant and transmission of existing virus and its variants, implementing calibrated public health and social measures and scaling up vaccination coverage should continue to be our focus," Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director of the WHO South-East Asia Region, was quoted as saying by PTI.

The Karnataka government has directed civic officials in Bengaluru to register a police complaint and investigate the validity of a negative Covid test report provided to a South African traveller who is among the first two persons in India whose Covid samples have indicated the presence of the Omicron variant of the virus.

The 66-year-old traveller from South Africa left India within seven days of testing positive by obtaining a negative Covid test report from a private lab. More details here.

Replying to a debate on the pandemic in the Lok Sabha, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that a decision on booster dose and jabs for children will be taken on the basis of scientific advice. He also said the Union government has taken measures to make the country ready for any future challenges and adopted the buffer stock policy to ensure that all states have enough medicines to deal with any further surge in Covid-19 cases.

Since its detection in South Africa, the new variant Omicron has spread to more than two dozen countries, including Asian nations like Sri Lanka, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea.

Soon after the World Health Organisation declared Omicron as a ‘Variant of Concern’, several countries imposed travel bans against South Africa. Amid the new variant’s fear, countries began stepping up testing, vaccinations and restrictions.

The United Kingdom has so far confirmed 22 cases of the Omicron variant with links to travel from southern Africa. The two persons tested with the new variant and their family members were asked to self-isolate. More details here.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya Friday said that as many as 16,000 passengers from 'at-risk' countries were tested and 18 were found positive. Genome sequencing for Omicron underway, he said in the Lok Sabha.

The Union Health Ministry Friday issued answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Omicron – the new variant of Covid-19 – highlighting that given the fast pace of vaccination in India and high exposure to the Delta variant as evidenced by high seropositivity, the severity of the disease is “anticipated” to be low. Here's what the government has said on a third wave of coronavirus in India, whether vaccines will work, precautions to be taken, and diagnostic methods to detect the new strain.

The WHO has rushed a team of experts to South Africa's Gauteng province, the epicentre of the new Omicron variant of COVID-19, to ramp up surveillance and contact tracing efforts as the country grapples with rising cases of infections.

Omicron, which was first identified in South Africa exactly a week ago, now has been detected in at least 24 countries around the world, including India.

“We are deploying a surge team in Gauteng province to support surveillance and contact tracing,” World Health Organisation's Regional Emergency Director for Africa Dr Salam Gueye said in a media briefing on Thursday. A team is already working in South Africa on genomic sequencing, he said.

The Gauteng province, which is the economic hub of South Africa, has accounted for almost 80 per cent of the infections over the past week. (PTI)

Top Indian genome scientists have recommended a booster dose of Covid-19 vaccines for those above 40 years with preference to high-risk and high-exposure population.

According to PTI, the recommendation was made in the weekly bulletin of the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Sequencing Consortium (INSACOG), a network of national testing labs set up by the government to monitor genomic variations of Covid-19.

Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai chaired a high-level meeting to review the Covid situation in the state, a day after the state reported two new Omicron cases. 

Bengaluru | Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai chairs meeting related to COVID19 situation and the two Omicron cases

(Source: CMO) pic.twitter.com/J3Ka7U9Ei7

— ANI (@ANI) December 3, 2021

A division bench of Kerala high court on Friday nullified the single bench directive to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare “to make necessary provisions in the CoWIN portal to allow anyone who wanted to schedule the second dose four weeks after the first in terms of the original protocol for vaccination, to do so.”

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will be chairing a meeting with experts, senior Ministers and officials on Friday in the wake of two cases of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus detected in the state, during which a new guidelines aimed at controlling its spread is likely to be formulated. The meeting is scheduled for Friday afternoon, after the Chief Minister returns from his Delhi trip.

"An emergency meeting has been convened tomorrow with experts and senior officers. The meeting would discuss the measures to prevent the spread of new variant of Covid and the strategies to control it. The issue would be discussed with experts of the union government as well. Action would be taken to formulate new guidelines," Bommai was quoted as saying in a statement by his office, late on Thursday. (PTI)

With more than 260 million cases and 5.2 million deaths due to Covid-19worldwide as we enter the third year of the pandemic, it is clear that the battle is far from over. Almost all vaccines that are based on the initial Wuhan virus genome have held on to their promise of greatly reducing the risk of severe disease, hospitalisation, and death due to Covid, including the more infectious Delta, which now accounts for over 99% of the pandemic worldwide. But the recent, fierce fourth wave in European countries, more than two-thirds of whose populations are fully vaccinated, and a surge of infections in the US, have sent alarm bells ringing around the world.

While India’s cricket tour of South Africa is set to be delayed by a week after global panic over the new coronavirus variant Omicron, the hosts have underlined the sturdiness of the bio-safe bubbles put in place for the cricketers.

The chief medical officer of Cricket South Africa (CSA) Dr Shuaib Manjra has said that though the virus spread is “growing exponentially” in Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg region where India are slated to play their first two Tests, there are protocols in place for all eventualities.

Speaking to The Indian Express Manjra said, “South Africa is at the beginning of the fourth wave. Statistically, the cases are growing exponentially. But the evidence so far is that the cases have been mild in general. The risk of hospitalisation, in Gauteng, is growing especially in the unvaccinated population. 75 per cent of the cases suggest that.” Manjra went on to cite the ongoing tour of India A of South Africa to buttress his point saying, “there have been zero positive cases so far.” Read his interview here. 

With 9,216 coronavirus infections being reported in a day, the country's total tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 3,46,15,757, while the active cases increased to 99,976, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

The death toll climbed to 4,70,115 with 391 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been less than 50,000 for 159 consecutive days now.

The active cases comprise 0.29 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.35 per cent, the ministry said. (PTI)

Two international travellers who arrived in Tamil Nadu have tested positive for Covid-19, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma. Subramanian announced on Friday. One of the Covid patients arrived at Tiruchirappalli International Airport from Singapore, while the other arrived in Chennai from the United Kingdom. 

"Samples have been sent for genome sequencing to Chennai and Bengaluru," Subramanian said. (ANI)

Two international travellers who arrived in Tamil Nadu have tested positive for Covid-19, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma. Subramanian announced on Friday. One of the Covid patients arrived at Tiruchirappalli International Airport from Singapore, while the other arrived in Chennai from the United Kingdom. 

"Samples have been sent for genome sequencing to Chennai and Bengaluru," Subramanian said. (ANI)