PM Modi chairs meeting with top officials on COVID situation, vaccination amid Omicron concern

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday chaired a meeting with top government officials on the COVID-19 situation and vaccination drive in the country.

The Saturday morning meeting was attended by top officials including cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba, principal secretary to the prime minister PK Mishra, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan and NITI Aayog member (health) Dr VK Paul.

The meeting was held a day after the World Health Organisation (WHO) designated SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1529 as a 'variant of concern'. The new variant, named by the World Health Organization (WHO) a has been detected in South Africa, Hong Kong, Israel and Botswana. This variant has been named 'Omicron'.

The new variant has been labelled by scientists to be far more virulent than the Delta strain that has wreaked havoc in India during the second wave of the pandemic.

The new strain is expected to have an alarmingly high number of mutations that might make it more resistant to vaccines, induce more severe symptoms, and increase transmissibility.

In an effort to contain Omicron, several countries have already imposed travel bans, especially for those coming from countries in southern Africa.

India on Friday had announced that scheduled international passenger flights will resume from December 15 after being suspended in March 2020. The government called for stringent screening of passengers from South Africa, Botswana, and Hong Kong. The Union Health Ministry said, "This variant... has serious public health implications in view of recently relaxed visa restrictions and opening of international travel."

According to the government's decision airlines from December 15 will be allowed to operate 50 per cent of their pre-Covid scheduled passenger flights between India and South Africa, Hong Kong and Botswana.

COVID-19 Update

India witnessed a single-day rise of 8,318 new COVID-19 infections taking the country's tally of coronavirus cases to 3,45,63,749. The active cases have declined to 1,07,019, the lowest in 541 days, according to Union Health Ministry data updated on Saturday.

The death toll has climbed to 4,67,933 with 465 daily fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 50 continuous days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 153 consecutive days now.

Vaccination Status

India administered 73,58,017 COVID-19 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours. The total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in India so far is 1,21,06,58,262.

Also Read: WHO names new COVID strain 'Omicron', classifies it as 'highly transmissible'

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