Covid-19 LIVE: Thermal scanning and temperature checks are conducted at the Collector's office in Pune. Coronavirus Omicron India Live: India reported 2,64,202 fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, ending at 9 am on Friday, marking a 6.7 per cent uptick since yesterday. With 1,09,345 recoveries , active cases are now at 12,72,073, while the daily positivity rate has risen to 14.78 per cent. Confirmed cases of the Omicron variant presently stand at 5,753.
Delhi has officially surpassed its peak from the delta-fuelled second wave last year, reporting 28,867 fresh Covid cases on Thursday. With a high number of cases being reported despite fewer tests, the positivity rate shot up to 29.2%. But despite the high number of cases, there have been fewer hospitalisations and deaths during the current omicron-driven wave. There are 94,160 active cases in the city, of whom 2,424 persons are admitted to hospitals, as per the daily health bulletin.
On Thursday,  urged Central and state governments to continue with the pre-emptive, pro-active and collective approach followed so far in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. Chairing a virtual meeting with the chief ministers to review the situation, fueled by the highly-transmissible Omicron variant, PM Modi called for focusing on local containment and emphasised on the need to safeguard the economy and livelihood of common people while framing Covid strategies. Modi also stated that the initial skepticism about the Omicron variant was slowly getting cleared as it has shown to have infected the general population several times faster than the previous ones.
Chennai: A health worker administers a booster dose of Covid-19 vaccine to a policeman, in Chennai, Monday, Jan. 10, 2022. (PTI Photo/R Senthil Kumar)
Unlike Mumbai, the daily count of coronavirus infections in Pune continues to rise, with 9,645 new cases being detected on Thursday. According to the latest data by the health department of the Pune Zila Parishad, three deaths were also reported from the district, two from Pune Municipal Corporation areas and one from Cantonment.
Pune district is still some distance away from its second wave peak. Last year, its daily case count had gone up as high as 12,825. Several other major cities, including Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata have already crossed their second wave peaks.
The current active case load in the district is nearly one third of the peak of the second wave. As on Thursday, over 44,000 people were infected in the district, of which more than 42,000 are in home isolation and less than 2,000 in hospitals. During the second wave, the active cases count had reached 1.25 lakh. Read more.
Coronavirus is going to stay with us and it is likely that Omicron and Delta may co circulate, said Dr T Jacob John, former director of ICMR’s Centre of Advanced Research in Virology, retired professor and head of the Department of Clinical Virology and Microbiology at CMC Vellore, on Thursday.
He also stressed on vaccinating children quickly to minimise virus transmission and risk of emergence of new variants by mutations. “I am an advocate of child vaccinations with vaccines which are safe and effective. If children are left unvaccinated, they will act as virus reservoirs and we know that Omicron affects children readily. They must be vaccinated more quickly,” he said. Read more.
The Maharashtra government on Thursday demanded 40 lakh Covaxin and 50 lakh Covishield doses from the Centre to increase the vaccination coverage in the state during a meeting of the chief ministers with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the prevailing Covid-19 situation.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, however, skipped the meeting called by the PM citing health reasons. Public Health Minister Rajesh Tope instead attended the meeting but was not allowed to speak.
“We demanded the 40 lakh doses of Covaxin and 50 lakh doses of Covishield. Covaxin is required for the vaccination for the 15-18 age group and Covishield for people over 60 years of age and the frontline workers,” Tope told mediapersons after the meeting. Read more.
India reported 2,64,202 fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, ending at 9 am on Friday, marking a 6.7 per cent uptick since yesterday.
Active cases: 12,72,073
Recoveries: 1,09,345
Omicron cases: 5,753
Good morning and welcome to our Covid-19 live blog. Follow this space for the latest pandemic-related news from across the country.
With the Omicron variant fuelling the third wave of Covid-19, various restrictions have been put in place nationwide to curb the spread of the virus.
On Thursday, India logged 2,47,417 new coronavirus infections, the highest in 236 days, taking the total tally of Covid-19 cases to 3,63,17,927 which includes 5,488 cases of the Omicron variant, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.
The country saw a single day jump of 620 cases of the Omicron variant, the highest so far, taking the total tally of such cases to 5,488, out of which 2,162 people have recovered or migrated so far. Read More
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday exuded confidence on tiding over the recent surge in Covid-19 cases perpetrated by the Omicron variant of the virus as the state government has ramped up its health infrastructure and put in place management strategies to deal with any situation. The chief minister said that the state government is focusing on inoculation and targeting to complete administering the second dose of vaccine to the eligible population by February 10, an official statement said.
Updating the prime minister at a video conference on the state's preparedness to tackle the current situation, Sarma said the health infrastructure created in the state has made the government upbeat about tackling the pandemic. The chief minister said, “Assam is confident to deal with the third wave caused by Omicron infections. But at the same time, it is taking a cautious approach in strategising its COVID care management to keep the infection at a manageable level.” He thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Rs 670 crore Emergency COVID Response Package (ECRP), which helped the state government to ramp up its health infrastructure to deal with the pandemic.
Sarma said since the vaccine is the most potent tool to fight the infection, the Assam government has gone all out in inoculating the eligible people of the state. (PTI)
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin Thursday informed that the state has fully vaccinated 64 percent of its eligible population. He expressed his views during the Prime Minister’s interaction with Chief Ministers over the prevailing Covid-19 situation.
Stalin also said the state government is fully-prepared to manage the Omicron wave of the pandemic and after their government assumed charge, they have increased the vaccination coverage as well.
“Today, 64 per cent of the eligible population has been fully-vaccinated. We also vaccinated 74 per cent of the population belonging to the age group of 15 to 18. There is a very good response for the booster dose too,” Stalin said. Read More
Delhi reported 28,867 fresh cases of Covid-19 on Thursday, pushing past the peak of 28,395 cases reported on April 20, 2021, during the Delta variant-driven wave. The surge is the worst that the national capital has seen. With a high number of infections being reported despite fewer tests, the positivity rate–the proportion of samples that return positive–shot up to 29.2 per cent.
The capital also reported 31 deaths, fewer than the toll of 40 from the previous day. There have been 164 Covid-19 deaths in Delhi in January. There were only nine deaths reported in December, seven in November, four in October, and five in September.
Despite the high number of cases, there have been fewer hospitalisations and deaths during the current Omicron-driven wave. There are 94,160 persons with a current infection in the city, of whom 2,424 persons are admitted to hospitals, as per the daily health bulletin. A peak of 448 deaths was seen on May 3 last year during the previous surge of cases. Read More
The Karnataka Education department Thursday announced to extend the closure of schools in Bengaluru for students of Classes I to IX till January 31. The move comes after a massive spike in the number of Covid-19 cases in the city.
The decision was taken after Primary and Secondary Education Minister B C Nagesh held a meeting with the officials of the department. Meanwhile, for other districts in Karnataka, the minister advised the deputy commissioners not to shut down schools in a hurry and said they can remain open till the positivity rate is within 5%.
The Karnataka government in its latest guidelines had said that the deputy commissioners have been given the authority to take a call on whether schools should remain closed after consulting officials from the Health and Family Welfare and Public Instruction departments. Read More
Today's Covid numbers: Delhi (28,867), Mumbai (13,702 cases), Bengaluru (18,374 cases), Kolkata (6,768 cases), Chennai (8,218 cases)
Tamil Nadu on Thursday reported 20,911 new Covid-19 cases and 25 deaths. Of this, state capital Chennai recorded the highest number of cases at 8,218 and eight fatalities.
Delhi on Thursday reported 28,867 new Covid-19 cases and 31 deaths, as the positivity rate also shot up to 29.21 per cent. The number of active cases stand at 94,160.
Karnataka on Thursday reported 25,005 fresh Covid-19 cases of which 18,374 infections were recorded from Bengaluru. The state also logged eight deaths, including three in the capital.
The weekly market near DDA land in Delhi's Shastri Park has been closed with immediate effect till 6 am tomorrow, due to violation of Covid-19 norms by vendors and the general public.
Mumbai on Thursday reported 13,702 fresh cases of Covid-19 and 6 deaths in the last 24 hours. According to data shared by the BMC, the number of active cases in the city stands at 95,123. On Wednesday, the city had recorded 16,420 infections.
The number of containment zones in Delhi has seen an almost 17-fold rise from 1,243 zones on January 1 to 20,878 zones on January 12 amid rising coronavirus cases in the city. The increase in the number of containment zones has been proportional to the surge in infections in the national capital.
According to district officials, emphasis is being laid on mirco containment to arrest the spread of the infection. Normally, an area is designated as a containment zone where three or more Covid-19 cases in a family or in the neighbourhood are detected. It is a dynamic exercise conducted by district authorities seeing the situation and the number of infections, they said.
"Every district magistrate (DM) has to assess the situation in the area. At times, even if there is a single case in a household, the DMs are declaring it a containment zone if there is high rate of infection in that area," said a senior government official. He said declaring an area a containment zone depends on the assessment of CDMO, district magistrate and district surveillance officer. (PTI)
🔴 We 130 crore people of India, will surely emerge victorious from Coronavirus pandemic with our collective efforts, says PM
🔴 Initial skepticism about Omicron slowly getting cleared; This variant infecting general population several times faster than previous ones, says Modi
🔴 In addition to fighting Omicron, we also need to be ready for any future variants of this virus, says PM
🔴 We need to further accelerate 'Har Ghar Dastak' programme to reach 100 per cent vaccination coverage, says Modi
🔴 We have vaccinated nearly 3 crore adolescents within 10 days. This shows India's potential and our preparedness to deal with this challenge, says PM Modi
🔴 We must be alert and careful, but avoid panic; Alertness of people and administration must not fall short in festive season, he says
🔴 Central, state govts must continue with pre-emptive, pro-active and collective approach followed so far in fighting pandemic, Modi says
🔴 Sooner we give precautionary dose to frontline workers and senior citizens, stronger our healthcare system will become, he says
🔴 Vaccination is the biggest weapon against Covid pandemic, Modi tels the CMs
🔴 Very important to safeguard economy and livelihood of common people while framing Covid strategies; focus must on local containment, PM tells CMs
Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacting with chief ministers of all states.
The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday enhanced the fine collected for not wearing face mask at public places to Rs 500 in view of surge in Covid-19 cases in the state. According to a G.O issued on January 12, certain offences declared as compoundable-rule under Tamil Nadu Public Health Act,1939, non-compliance of wearing face masks, covering mouth and nose would attract a fine of Rs 500 as against Rs 200.
"According to the order issued by health department principal secretary J Radhakrishnan, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 138 A of Tamil Nadu Public Health Act, 1939, the Governor of Tamil Nadu hereby makes the following amendment to the Rule published with the health and family welfare department. In the said Rule, for the entry Rs 200 non wearing of mask covering mouth and nose as ordered by the appropriate authority from time to time, the entry of Rs 500 shall be substituted", the GO said.
The state has been witnessing a sharp rise in new Covid-19 infections since last month. As of Wednesday, the daily cases grew to 28.47 lakh with the addition of 17,898 fresh infections while the toll climbed to 36,905 with 19 fatalities. Chief Minister M K Stalin has time and again been appealing to the public to wear face masks and even made unscheduled stops and distributed masks to those not wearing one on busy roads in Chennai. (PTI)