Centre: Over 100 Omicron cases in India across 11 states, UTs, 32 in Maharashtra alone

The number of Omicron cases have now surpassed 100 in the country and these infections have been reported from 11 states and Union territories so far, the Union ministry of health and family welfare said on Friday.

As many as 101 Omicron cases have been detected across the country and Maharashtra with 32 cases has added the most to the national tally, data from the ministry showed. Delhi, with 22 cases, had the second highest number of cases.

101 #Omicron cases have been detected in 11 states so far in the country including 32 in Maharashtra and 22 in Delhi.

Among other states, Rajasthan reported 17 Omicron cases and Karnataka and Telangana have identified eight infections each. Meanwhile, five cases have also been reported from Gujarat and Kerala each.

Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have each reported a case of Omicron, the health ministry's joint secretary Lav Agarwal said during a regular press briefing. 

Further, the ministry also highlighted that the number of Omicron cases were rising globally and as of Friday, the United Kingdom had reported 11,708 cases of the new strain followed by Denmark with 9,009 cases and Norway with 1,792 cases.

South Africa, where the variant was first detected, had reported 1,247 cases so far. Less than 500 cases have been logged in other major countries like Canada, the USA, France, Australia, South Korea and Belgium.

The number of daily #Omicron cases around the world are increasing rapidly particularly in the UK, Denmark, Norway and South Africa.

Meanwhile, Agarwal also echoed the World Health Organization's (WHO) latest observation about the new strain.

The UN health body has noted that Omicron was spreading faster than the Delta variant in countries like South Africa, where Delta was less prevalent, and in the UK, where Delta circulation was high.

He warned the Omicron variant could cause further surges in global Covid-19 cases due to its high transmissibility and also said that the variant might potentially escape immune against the infection, noting that evidence regarding this was still emerging.

Emphasising on the usage of non pharmaceutical interventions such as face masks, social distancing and hand hygiene, Agarwal repeated the WHO's advisory that vaccines alone won't be enough in the fight against the pandemic.

Director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that non-essential travel and mass gatherings should be avoided and festivals such as new year should be observed with "low intensity".

He also said that districts with more than 5% test positivity rate should impose restrictive measures until the weekly positive rate falls below 5% for at least two weeks.