Coronavirus Live Updates: No Omicron B7 variant in Tamil Nadu, says state health department

Tamil Nadu's health department has said that the state has maximum XBB variants of Omicron and till now no variant of BF 7, which is causing the new wave of Covid-19 in many countries, has been detected in the state.While speaking to media persons, P. Sampath, Joint Director, Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, said, "The state has more XBB variants as more than 75 per cent of the samples tested in the state have these variants detected. However till now no BF. 7 variant of Omicron has been detected in the state."The BA.2, BA.5 and even Delta variants are present in the state but not the BF.7 variant in the state of Tamil Nadu, he added.

With the reduction in cases and more widespread vaccination, India had discontinued mandatory RT-PCR tests for international passengers by November. From Saturday, random coronavirus testing of international passengers started at airports including those in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Indore and Goa under new guidelines that require testing of two per cent of the passengers arriving in each international flight.

India's move to conduct RT-PCR test on a limited scale on passengers arriving from abroad has raised concerns among travellers but it's unlikely to have disruptive impact on the travel plans of most holidaymakers, including from the diaspora, the community members said on Sunday.

Amid spurt in Covid-19 infections in some parts of the world and cases of Omicron subvariant BF.7 found in the country, the Karnataka government on Monday is likely to decide on preventive measures and guidelines to be followed in the days ahead, including for the New Year celebrations. The state may decide on the guidelines at a meeting headed by the Health and Disaster Management Ministers, along with technical experts.

Alerted by the new BF.7 Covid-19 variant, the officials at the Gannavaram airport here in Andhra Pradesh conducted Corona tests for international travellers. The arrangements were made by the District Medical Officers at the airport on the orders of the Central and State Governments. As per Centre's guidelines, two per cent of international passengers arriving at Indian airports are to be tested.

China's Zhejiang, a big industrial province near Shanghai, is battling around a million new daily Covid-19 infections, a number expected to double in the days ahead, the provincial government said on Sunday. Despite a record surge of cases nationwide, China reported no Covid deaths on the mainland for the five days through Saturday, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Sunday.

In view of a surge in Covid-19 cases in some countries, officials will physically visit all government hospitals in Delhi and ascertain their preparedness to deal with any eventuality, authorities said on Sunday. In pursuance of the central government's directions, a mock drill will be conducted across all city government hospitals on Tuesday.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday said that every day almost 45,000-50,000 COVID-19 tests are being conducted in the state. While talking to the media, Kumar said, "We are conducting COVID tests and administering vaccines. Every day almost 45,000-50,000 tests are being conducted. "Bihar is on alert, and patients are being provided treatment. The Centre is also careful. We have to be careful with those coming from outside," he added.

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Passengers were seen wearing masks at Indira Gandhi International Airport. (ANI photo)

With India resuming random testing for 2% international arrivals, the lab at India’s busiest airport — Delhi’s IGIA — says it will be conducting about 500 tests daily. These tests resumed on Saturday (Dec 24) at 10 am (after peak arrival time for international flights) and Day One saw 110 tests being conducted, Genestrings Diagnostic Centre's lab at the Delhi airport said in a statement.

The central government has stepped up measures against the virus, with the cases on a rise, especially in China where the lifting of zero-Covid policy has caused a spread of the pandemic. Modi has also chaired meetings and his government has written to the states to put in place adequate measures to deal with any spurt.

We are seeing that Covid cases are rising in many countries in the world. We need to remain careful and wear masks and wash our hands: PM Modi in Mann Ki Baat

Vinay K Nandicoori, director CCMB, stressing the need to follow Covid appropriate behaviour, said there is always a concern that all these variants have the ability to escape the immunity and can infect people who are vaccinated and even sometimes infected with the previous variants of Omicron.

According to the leaked government documents that are circulating on social media, 248 million people were infected with Covid-19 from December 1 to 20, or 17.65 per cent of China's population.

A Beijing hospital official says about 500 patients daily are received at its emergency unit. That's 2.5 times the usual. About 20 per cent of them have developed serious symptoms. Looking at the number of Covid cases, other hospitals in Beijing are setting up makeshift intensive care units and increasing the number of beds for patients with serious symptoms, reported NHK World.

The surge in coronavirus cases in China is severely straining hospitals in Beijing and other major Chinese cities, reported NHK World. Millions of people in China have been affected by Covid-19 since the 'zero-covid policy' was diluted on December 7. The health authorities in Qingdao in Shandong Province estimated on Friday that 490,000 to 530,000 people per day have contracted the virus. Many Japanese companies are operating in the city. (AP photo)

Three new cases of coronavirus have been detected in Maharashtra's Thane district, taking its infection count to 7,47,391, a health official said on Sunday. With the addition of the latest cases on Saturday, there are now eight active Covid-19 cases in the district, which comes under the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, he said.

The active cases increased to 3,424, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Sunday. The Covid case tally was recorded at 4.46 crore (4,46,77,106) . The death toll stands at 5,30,693 with two fatalities with one reconciled by Kerala and one death reported in Maharashtra in the last 24 hours, the data updated at 8am stated.

The current Covid surge in many countries including China is believed to be driven by Omicron sub-variant BF.7. India has also so far reported four cases of this variant that includes two from Gujarat and two from Odisha.