Amid threat of Omicron variant, the Union Health Ministry on Thursday updating on the COVID-19 situation in India said that two cases of Omicron have been reported in the country so far and both cases are from Karnataka.
The Omicron cases have been detected through genome sequencing effort of INSACOG consortium of 37 laboratories established by the Ministry of Health. “We need not panic, but awareness is absolutely essential. COVID apt behaviour is required,” said Balram Bhargava, DG ICMR.
Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health Ministry said that Kerala and Maharashtra are the two states that have more than 10,000 actives cases – 55% of the cases of the country are reported in these two states.
Speaking on the vaccination front, Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health Ministry said, there is an increase in second dose of vaccination. “Several initiatives were taken to increase number of vaccination across country,” the joint secretary added.
He also said that the number of COVID-19 cases are increasing in Europe region adding 70% of global cases are reported in the region.
“In the week ending 28 Nov, around 2.75 Lakh new cases and over 31,000 deaths reported in European region,” he added.