Covid-19 Omicron Variant Live Updates: Gujarat govt announces fresh Corona curbs, night curfew; Assam govt imposes new Covid restrictions; check details

Thailand announced Friday it is tightening some entry restrictions while expanding its “sandbox” quarantine program, and urged people to follow social distancing and mask rules to control the spread of COVID-19 fueled by the omicron variant. The government did not announce any lockdown, but issued restrictions on alcohol consumption in restaurants. It also called on people to avoid public gatherings, public transportation and travel around the country. Most schools will stay open, while bars and nightclubs will remain closed. The decision came after reported daily coronavirus cases doubled to 7,526 in a matter of days following the new year's holiday, mostly because of the omicron variant. Nineteen new deaths were recorded, the government said. The Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration, or CCSA, said it has indefinitely suspended the country's “test-and-go” program, under which foreign tourists could quarantine for only one night while awaiting test results, and that people already approved under the scheme can only enter the kingdom until Jan. 15. CCSA spokesperson Taweesin Witsanuyothin said all other people arriving in Thailand must either go into hotel quarantine or use the “sandbox” program. He said the program will be extended next Tuesday from the island of Phuket to the provinces of Pang-nga and Krabi and three islands in Surat Thai province — Koh Samui, Koh Tao and Koh Phangan.

He said travel restrictions imposed on eight African countries will also be lifted that day. Under the “sandbox” program, fully vaccinated people are allowed to enter specific locations such as Phuket. They must spend a week in an approved hotel, have one test on arrival and another a week later. Although their movements are tracked, they can move around freely. The “test-and-go” scheme allowed fully vaccinated people to enter Thailand, but they were subject to a coronavirus test on arrival and a second test seven days later. If the first test was negative, they could travel freely. They had to spend their first night in a government-approved hotel awaiting their test results. Thailand had by far the most ambitious program in the region to allow travelers to enter and move around the country. It eased restrictions after a successful vaccination program in which 100 million doses have been administered to its population of about 60 million people. Booster programs are underway around the country. (AP)

The All India Inter-University Archery Championship, slated to be held in Mohali from January 18-22, was on Friday postponed due to rising COVID-19 cases across the country. “Keeping in view the safety of the players, it has been notified to all participating universities/institutes that the All India Inter University Archery (Men and Women) Championship has been postponed till further notice,” Dr Arvinder Singh Kang, director students welfare and organising secretary of the meet stated in a letter to the sports board Universities Affiliated to AIU. “The new dates of the tournament shall be intimated in due course of time.” However the ongoing first sub-junior, junior and senior national ranking tournament in Gachibowli, Hyderabad is continuing, an Archery Association of India official said. “The sub-junior and junior meets are over and only the senior meet is left, scheduled on January 9 and 10. Already archers have arrived so we are proceeding as per the schedule,” he told PTI. According to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday, the single-day rise in coronavirus infections was recorded above one lakh after 214 days, taking India's total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,52,26,386 which includes 3,007 cases of Omicron reported across 27 states and union territories. (PTI)

India's daily COVID-19 cases jumped to 117,100 on Friday, a five-fold increase in a week and on course to overtake its previous infection peak as the fast-spreading Omicron variant replaces Delta in cities. Government officials have privately said they are working under the assumption that daily infections will surpass the record of more than 414,000 set in May, given what has happened in countries, such as the United States where daily cases have risen past 1 million. “We will clearly surpass our record shortly and reach a new peak by early February,” M.D. Gupte, a former director of the state-run National Institute of Epidemiology and an immunisation adviser to the government, told Reuters. “Given the size of our population, we will report more daily cases than the U.S. But what we have seen is that these cases are much more mild, so the need for hospitalisation and oxygen and all that is not picking up.” He said India's high rate of infection during a previous major wave in April and May, as well as vaccinations, would mean a reduction in the severity of the illness for those infected by the Omicron variant. Nearly 70% of Indians had been infected with the coronavirus by the middle of last year, according to government serological surveys, while an almost equal proportion of adults have been fully vaccinated as of this week. As cases have shot up, the health ministry said that starting from Jan. 11 arrivals from all countries would have to isolate at home for a week. Some 2% of such people would be tested at their port of arrival, and sent to institutional quarantine if found positive for COVID-19. Earlier, only all those arriving from countries with a high number of cases had to be mandatorily tested and sent to institutional quarantine if found positive or home quarantine for a week if negative. (Reuters)

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said the third wave of the pandemic along with Omicron variant of COVID-19 has hit the state from January 1 and now the government will treat all coronavirus cases as patients of the highly infectious new variant. Addressing a press conference here, Sarma said the doubling rate of cases is two days and on some occasions, it's even a single day. “So we assume that there are lots of Omicron cases in Assam at this moment. We have now decided to consider all positive cases as Omicron and will treat them accordingly,” he said. By the end of January, we will reach the peak of the third wave, the chief minister said. Announcing new restrictions, the chief minister said the night curfew timing has been advanced to 10 pm from 11:30 pm now and it will continue till 6 am, besides wearing of masks made compulsory. “All schools in Assam up to class 5 will be closed from tomorrow and this will be up to class 8 in Guwahati. The rest of the classes will take place on a rotational basis on every alternate day,” he added. Sarma also said that except for hospitals, only fully vaccinated people will be allowed in public places like hotels, restaurants, cinema halls, government offices, buses and malls. (PTI)

Twenty fatalities due to the coronavirus infection have been reported in Delhi in the first six days of January, according to official figures. Eight of these deaths were registered on January 5, amid a massive surge in Covid cases, largely driven by the Omicron variant. According to the health bulletin issued on Thursday, the death toll due to the coronavirus infection in Delhi stood at 25,127. The death tally on December 31 was 25,107. On Thursday, the daily case count was 15,097 at a positivity rate of 15.34 per cent and six deaths were recorded. Delhi reported one Covid death each on January 1, January 2 and January 3; three on January 4; eight on January 5; and six on January 6, according to office figures. On Thursday, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had told reporters that no death due to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus had been confirmed in the national capital yet. And, while cases are surging day by day, the situation in the city did not warrant a lockdown yet, he had said. The huge spike in fresh cases over the past several days here is being recorded amid a significant jump in cases of the new Omicron variant of the virus. This single-day spike recorded on Thursday was the highest since May 8, 2021 when 17,364 cases were reported with a positivity rate of 23.34 per cent. As many as 332 deaths were also recorded on that day. Meanwhile, health experts have cautioned that as far as the surge in coronavirus cases are concerned, “it's a wildfire right now”. “This is expected to last at least over two months, and the patients' footfall in our hospital has increased phenomenally in the last few days. Since the number of cases has seen a massive jump, more number of deaths is also being reported,” said Dr. Suranjit Chatterjee, a senior consultant at Apollo Hospitals here. He said that in the past two days he has seen about 35 Covid patients. Chatterjee, who was infected with the virus, said, “All kinds of patients are coming to the hospital, young, old, children, double vaccinated ones, those who had Covid but recovered and then got vaccinated; and even those who have had a booster dose abroad, are testing positive. It's a wildfire right now”. On the increase in death count, he said the government has “not made public” which variant of the virus was present in the people who have died due to Covid in the last one week. “So, sooner or later, the government might share more information about these fatalities taking place during the surge to take decisions to combat this pandemic as also give treating doctors some window into the way this virus is currently behaving,” the doctor said. Jain on Thursday had also asserted that Delhi was in a comfortable position in terms of hospital bed occupancy. The city government has significantly ramped up coronavirus testing capacity. And, nearly 98,500 Covid tests were conducted a day ago, the Thursday health bulletin showed. The single-day rise in coronavirus infections was recorded above one lakh after 214 days, taking India's total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,52,26,386 which includes 3,007 cases of Omicron reported across 27 states and union territories, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday. Maharashtra recorded the maximum number of 876 Omicron cases, followed by Delhi at 465, Karnataka 333, Rajasthan 291, Kerala 284 and Gujarat 204. During the height of the second wave of the pandemic, 28,395 cases, the highest-ever single-day tally here, and 277 deaths were recorded in Delhi on April 20 last year, according to official figures. (PTI)

Amid rapidly rising coronavirus cases, the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) on Friday wrote to top mall owners and landlords seeking a complete waiver of rentals and common area maintenance in case food and beverage businesses are completely shut for dine-in. The restaurant body suggested pure revenue share for the period when restricted operations are imposed, in the open letter. Restricted operations shall mean things like delivery only or limited hours of operations or limited capacity utilisation, etc., it said. The NRAI also sought minimum guaranteed rents for three months after that and instead work on a pure revenue share model. “The restaurant industry, with an annual turnover of about Rs 4.25 lakh crore and providing direct employment to over seven million Indians, is currently in a precarious situation due to the restrictions imposed on account of the third wave of the pandemic,” the NRAI said in the letter, adding that the sector continues to fight a grim battle for its survival. It observed that a large part of the industry managed to somehow survive the first two waves of lockdown and sailed through due to collective efforts of all stakeholders and similar efforts are once again required to prevent fresh rounds of business mortalities and job losses in the sector. NRAI President Kabir Suri said, “While the first two waves of the pandemic crippled us badly and resource crunch forced many restaurants to shut down, we see a larger concern with this third wave as it may actually hurt consumer sentiments in the near term which is already visible.” (PTI)