NEW DELHI: A 35-year-old man, with travel history to Zimbabwe and South Africa, has tested positive for Omicron, becoming the second patient in Delhi of the new COVID-19 variant, sources said on Saturday.

He returned to India from Zimbabwe and had even travelled to South Africa, the sources said, adding that he is fully vaccinated.

The LNJP Hospital has been designated for treatment of patients infected with the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

On Sunday, a 37-year-old fully vaccinated man who arrived in Delhi from Tanzania, became the first patient of Omicron in the national capital.

The patient, a resident of Ranchi, had travelled from Tanzania to Doha and from there to Delhi on a Qatar Airways flight on December 2.

He stayed in Johannesburg, South Africa, for a week.

The person has mild symptoms.

The active cases have increased to 94,742 comprising 0.27 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.36 per cent.

NEW DELHI: With 9,419 more people testing positive for Covid in a day, India’s infection tally rose to 3,46,66,241, while the active cases increased to 94,742, according to the Union Health Ministry’s data updated on Thursday.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been recorded below 10,000 for 13 straight days and less than 50,000 for 165 consecutive days now.

The active cases have increased to 94,742 comprising 0.27 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.36 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the Health Ministry said.

An increase of 1,009 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.73 per cent.

It has been less than two per cent for the last 66 days.

The weekly positivity rate was also recorded at 0.74 per cent.

It has been below one per cent for the last 25 days, according to the minister

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,40,97,388, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.37 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 130.39 crore.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20 lakh-mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.

It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

India had crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.

The 125 new fatalities include 112 from Kerala, 11 from Tamil Nadu and 10 from Maharashtra.

Of the 112 deaths, 35 were logged over the last few days and 77 were designated as COVID-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the directions of the Supreme Court, a statement from the Kerala government said on Wednesday.

A total of 4,74,111 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 1,41,204 from Maharashtra, 42,014 from Kerala, 38,249 from Karnataka, 36,560 from Tamil Nadu, 25,100 from Delhi, 22,911 from Uttar Pradesh and 19,568 from West Bengal.

The Health Ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

“Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research,” the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.

LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday no UK government minister will attend the Beijing Winter Olympics, calling it ‘effectively’ a diplomatic boycott.

Johnson was asked in the House of Commons whether the UK will join the United States, Australia and Lithuania in a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Games in February over Beijing’s human rights record.

He said he opposed boycotts involving athletes, but Britain would effectively be boycotting the Olympics diplomatically.

“There will be effectively a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing,” Johnson told lawmakers.

“No ministers are expected to attend and no officials. The government has no hesitation in raising these issues with China, as I did with President Xi the last time I talked to him,” he added.

The White House confirmed Monday that it was staging a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing to protest Chinese human rights abuses.

China has vowed to react with ‘firm countermeasures’.

Western governments, including the US, Australia and Britain, have criticised Beijing for human rights abuses against its Uyghur minority in northwest Xinjiang province and suppression of democratic protests in Hong Kong.

BENGALURU: With the State Cabinet set to discuss measures to be taken to contain the Covid spread, industry leaders have urged the government to enforce the guidelines strictly and not impose more restrictions as industries are yet to fully recover from the impact of the lockdown. 

The opposition Congress said the government should look at measures taken in other states before issuing any guidelines.

“It is good if they only ensure strict enforcement of the Covid guidelines, including wearing masks and maintaining social distance, as small-scale industries are yet to fully recover from the impact of the lockdown. Nearly 20 per cent of micro and small-scale industries have closed down and now, if they impose more restrictions, another 20 to 30 per cent of them will close,” said Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association former president R Raju.

According to Raju, small-scale industries are struggling to break even due to an increase in fuel prices and other factors, and too many restrictions will not be good in such conditions. 

I S Prasad of the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) said there is no threat to businesses as 99 per cent of those working in industries are vaccinated.

The government is very proactive in taking measures and holding consultations with the industry, he said. 

KPCC state president D K Shivakumar said unnecessary fear should not be created about spread of the Omicron variant and, while issuing the guidelines, the State Government should look at measures taken in other states.

He said the government should give compensation to people who suffered losses. 

After Covid clusters were reported in educational institutions in parts of the state, the government issued guidelines restricting the number of people attending any programme to 500 and directed educational institutions to postpone all programmes till January next year.

GENEVA: Omicron does not appear to cause more severe disease than previous Covid variants, and is “highly unlikely” to fully dodge vaccine protections, a top WHO official told AFP Tuesday.

“The preliminary data doesn’t indicate that this is more severe. In fact, if anything, the direction is towards less severity,” WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said in an interview, insisting though that more research was needed.

“It’s very early days, we have to be very careful how we interpret that signal.” 

At the same time, he said there was no sign that Omicron could fully sidestep protections provided by existing Covid vaccines.

“We have highly effective vaccines that have proved effective against all the variants so far, in terms of severe disease and hospitalisation,” the 56-year-old epidemiologist and former trauma surgeon said.

“There’s no reason to expect that it wouldn’t be so” for Omicron, he said, pointing to early data from South Africa where the variant was first detected that “suggest the vaccine at least is holding up in protection terms”.

– ‘Best weapon’ –
Ryan acknowledged it was possible that the existing vaccines might prove less effective against Omicron, which counts more than 30 mutations on the spike protein that dots the surface of the coronavirus and allows it to invade cells.

But he said it was “highly unlikely” it would be able to evade vaccine protections altogether.

“We have to confirm if there’s any lapse in that protection, but I would expect to see some protection there. 

“The preliminary data from South Africa wouldn’t indicate that we will have a catastrophic loss of efficacy. In fact, the opposite at the moment.”

In the fight against all Covid variants, he said, “the best weapon we have right now is to get vaccinated.”

Two weeks after first being identified, Omicron has been found in dozens of countries around the world.

Early data from South Africa indicates that the new variant is likely more transmissible than previous variants, Ryan said, adding that this was not a surprise.

“When any new variant emerges, it will tend to be more transmissible, because it’s got to compete with previous variants,” he said.

– Same rules –
The fast-talking Irishman said one could expect Omicron to gradually replace Delta as the dominant strain.

But he pointed out that Omicron had so far been seen spreading especially quickly in South Africa, where Delta had waned, and may just be “exploiting a gap in the transmission of Delta”.

There are also indications that Omicron is better at infecting people who have been vaccinated or already had Covid.

“There is some evidence to suggest that reinfection with Omicron is more common than it was with previous waves or previous variants,” Ryan said.

But “we’re particularly interested in seeing not whether you can be reinfected with Omicron, but whether any new infection is more or less severe.”

He said that, as the current Covid vaccines aim to prevent severe disease but do not necessarily protect against simply contracting the virus, reinfections with mild or no symptoms were of lesser concern.

In any case, Ryan said, despite its mutations, the new variant was still Covid, and should be fought with the same measures, including vaccines, masks and physical distancing.

“The virus hasn’t changed its nature. It may have changed in terms of its efficiency, but it hasn’t changed the game entirely,” he said.

“The rules of the game are still the same.”

BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai expressed shock over the Indian Air Force helicopter carrying the Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat meeting with an accident near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.

He said search and rescue operations are underway at the place where the accident occurred. “I am deeply pained to hear the Army helicopter carrying the Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat meeting with an accident. I am trying to get more information,” Bommai told reporters here. “This is the most unfortunate incident. The nation is in a state of shock,” he added.

The IAF helicopter with Gen Rawat on board met with an accident near Coonoor and four people were killed in the mishap that happened reportedly due to low visibility due to foggy conditions.

Pramesh S Jain

A PSI attached to Byatarayanpura police station Harish kumar has been suspended over alleged torture brutally of 22 year old over trivial row .

Tousif, a resident of Padarayanapura was picked up to the police station for enquiry over a fight with neighbour .

Tousif however alleged that his beard was shaved and given urine when he exhausted from the torture and asked for water.

Senior officer told reporters,Following a complaint by his parents an inquiry was ordered by DCP, West,Dr Sanjeev M Patil and inquiry was conducted by ACP kengeri gate division , Kodandaramaiah,and submitted report to the DCP.

Meanwhile an audio was released by a head constable who alleged that Harish has misused him and he used to ask him to bring Pregnancy kit and Abortion kit in night and he is the one who is responsible for his suspension said a head constable who is suspended because of Harish and till today his suspension has not been revoked he alleged in a audio .

The report found deriliction of duty on part of Harish following which he was suspended until further orders.

This is the second such incident as three policemen from Varthur station have been suspended for allegedly torturing a suspect in theft case so brutally that his arm had to be amputed.