Coronavirus Omicron Cases and Deaths in India, Covid-19 Booster Shot Vaccine Registration Latest Update, Coronavirus Third Wave in India January 25 Highlights: Pfizer and BioNTech launch trial of Omicron-targeted Covid vaccine
Omicron Variant Cases and Deaths in India, Covid-19 Booster Vaccine Registration January 25 Latest Update: First, some good news! India on Tuesday recorded less than 3 lakh Covid cases, the official data shows. The decline is continuing for the last 48 hours. Around 30,000 fewer infections were detected on Monday, which brought the national Covid tally closer to 3-lakh mark. On Tuesday, it further declined to 2,55,874 Covid-19 infections. This is 50,190 cases less than Monday. Other indicators such as positivity rate and active cases have also improved. India’s positivity rate as of January 25 stands at 15.52 per cent. On Monday, this figure was at 20.75 per cent. On the other hand, the number of active cases has also dropped to 22,36,842. However, it is the fatalities figure that is still in alarming red. The government report shows that 614 people succumbed to Covid-related issues in the span of 1 day. These are much higher Covid deaths than what India saw on Monday. There has been an increase of over 200 Covid deaths in the last 24 hours.
Is the notion of ‘mild’ effects helping in spread of Omicron variant? The data says so. Scientists have repeatedly said that it’s is much more transmissible than the Delta variant of the Coronavirus. Yet, it has resulted in any greater degree of mask discipline among people either in India or around the globe. Talking about situation at home, latest study has said that India will see the worst of Omicron-led third wave in about next 15 days with numbers reaching the peak. The weekend saw a consistent trend of over 3 lakh cases each day. To add to the grim scenario, the latest observation by INSACOG has revealed that the community spread is happening in several metro cities in India. While local authorities have refuted the claims of lesser testing, the data suggest that every time we see fewer cases, the tests conducted in the region also show a decline.
Elsewhere, China is still grappling with the contagion as it readies for the Winter Olympics. Europe is also looking at new surge. Omicron has also spread in New Zealand resulting in PM Jacidna Adern cancelling her wedding plans.
Watch this space for latest, verified Omicron-Coronavirus updates from India and across the world:
Live Updates
Coronavirus India Live News: Covid-19 Omicron Cases in India Live Count, Coronavirus Lockdown, Omicron Latest News Today, Omicron Lockdown News, Omicron Night Curfew Guidelines and Restrictions Live Updates January 25 latest Covid news
Omicron Latest News Today: Focus on hospitals rather than airports, say experts
Health experts say that states and Centre should tweak the testing protocols. An Indian Express report says that health experts have said that instead of testing the travelers on the airports, local authorities should look at the clinical samples collected at the hospitals and keeping a tab on the patients admitted in the ICUs. Along with this, randomised testing in larger pool of people is the need of the hour.
Omicron Latest News Today: Israeli expert panel advises 4th vaccine dose for adults
An expert panel on Tuesday advised the Israeli government to begin offering a fourth vaccine dose to everyone over the age of 18, citing research showing it helps prevent COVID-19 infection and severe illness. The advisory committee said research shows a fourth dose provides three to five times the level of protection against serious disease and double the protection against infection compared to three doses. The Health Ministry’s director must approve the recommendation.
Omicron Latest News Today: London police investigating Downing Street lockdown parties
London police said Tuesday they are now investigating Downing Street parties during lockdown. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick revealed an investigation was underway in a statement before the London Assembly. Dick said that Scotland Yard is now investigating ‘a number of events’ at Downing Street. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government has been under fire for allegedly holding events during months in which the nation was under lockdown because of COVID-19. (AP)
Omicron Latest News Today: Hong Kong virus cluster in housing prompts partial lockdown
Hong Kong expanded a partial lockdown and tightened pandemic restrictions Tuesday after more than 200 cases of COVID-19 were discovered at a public housing estate. Hong Kong has already suspended many overseas flights and requires arrivals be quarantined, similar to mainland China’s ’zero-tolerance’ approach to the virus that has placed millions under lockdowns and mandates mask wearing, rigorous case tracing and mass testing. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said a second residential block at the Kwai Chung housing complex would be locked down for five days. The block where the virus was first discovered is already under lockdown, which will now be extended from five to seven days. AP
Omicron Latest News Today: Russia’s daily COVID-19 cases hit record high for fifth day running
Russia reported a record number of COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours on Tuesday as the Omicron variant of the virus spread across the country, the government coronavirus task force said.New daily cases jumped to 67,809, from 65,109 a day earlier. The task force also reported 681 deaths. – Reuters
Omicron Latest News Today: Germany to receive 3.8 mln doses of Novavax’s new COVID vaccine in Q1
Germany expects to receive 3.8 million doses of Novavax’s newly approved COVID-19 vaccine Nuvaxovid by March 20, the health ministry said on Tuesday, as the government looks to persuade unvaccinated Germans to get a shot.Germany will receive 1.4 million doses in the week of Feb. 21 and should receive the rest of the 3.8 million doses in the subsequent few weeks.Novavax is expected to deliver 34 million doses to Germany this year. The shipment is a part of the U.S. drugmaker’s deal to supply up to 200 million doses to the European Union’s 27 member states.Novavax’s protein-based vaccine, which was approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in December, uses alternative technology to the vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, , Moderna, AstraZeneca and J&J .This could convince reluctant Germans, sceptical about the novel mRNA technology and its long-term effects, to take Novavax’s more traditional vaccine and boost Germany’s vaccination rate, which is lower than other western European countries. – Reuters
Omicron Latest News Today: Low-cost smartphone based test can accurately detect COVID-19 in 20 minutes
Researchers in the US have developed a low-cost smartphone based diagnostic tool for COVID-19 that combines the speed of over-the-counter antigen tests with the accuracy of PCR tests. The Harmony COVID-19 test developed by researchers at the University of Washington in the US detects genetic material from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the researchers said. While the conventional PCR tests can take several hours, the Harmony kit can provide results in less than 20 minutes for some samples and with similar accuracy, they said. “We designed the test to be low-cost and simple enough that it could be used anywhere,” said Bary Lutz, an associate professor at the University of Washington. – PTI
Omicron Latest News Today: Don’t want people’s livelihood to be affected, Covid curbs to be eased as soon as possible: Kejriwal
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said that his government does not want livelihood of people to be affected and Covid restrictions will be eased as soon as possible. Restrictions were put in place in view of people’s health, Kejriwal said after hoisting the national flag at the Delhi government’s Republic Day function. “Delhiites have suffered the most due to Covid. We don’t want that your livelihood is affected but your health is important, so we had to put restrictions,” he said. Recently, the Delhi government’s proposal to lift weekend curfew and odd-even scheme of opening shops in view of the improving Covid situation here was turned down by the Lieutenant Governor (L-G). – PTI
Omicron Latest News Today: Czech Republic reports record daily tally of 30,350 new COVID-19 cases
The Czech Republic recorded 30,350 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, the highest daily tally since pandemic started in the country of 10.7 million as the Omicron variant of coronavirus spreads, health ministry data showed on Tuesday.The country is bracing for a surge in cases from the new variant which could peak this month, the health minister has said. – Reuters
Omicron Latest News Today: Puducherry sees rise in fresh COVID-19 cases
Puducherry witnessed a rise in number of daily coronavirus cases with 1911 fresh infections being reported during the last 24 hours ending 10 a.m. on Tuesday. The new cases were reported at the end of examination of 5,191 samples. The total infection count stood at 1,55,254. The active cases also shot up to 16,394 (223 in hospitals and 16,171 in home quarantine) as against 15,632 cases on Monday. The fresh cases identified today were spread over Puducherry 1410, Karaikal 331, Mahe 19 and Yanam 151. Director of Health G Sriramulu said the Department of Health has tested so far 21,36,582 samples and found 17, 97,357 out of them to be negative. – PTI
Omicron Latest News Today: Odisha registers 5,891 new COVID-19 cases, 7 deaths, over 10,000 recoveries
Odisha recorded 5,891 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, 19 per cent less than the previous day, as the number of clinical tests registered a significant drop over the past two days, the health department said. The tally in the coastal state climbed to 12,17,842, the department stated. The toll mounted to 8,532 with seven more deaths, including three in Khurda. Fifty-three COVID-19 patients have died due to comorbidities in the past, it said. The infections are the lowest in a fortnight. The state had reported 11,086 cases exactly a week ago. On Monday, it logged 7,291 new cases and five deaths. The test positivity rate stood at 9.85 per cent as 59,807 samples were examined in the past 24 hours, down from 61,969 on Sunday and 72,524 on Saturday. – PTI
Omicron Latest News Today: It’s not wave, it’s a cyclone! Experts on Omicron transmission
While the nature of the cases in this wave are much more ‘milder’ than the Delta disasters, health experts have warned that this may not hold true in long run. An Indian Express report says that Covid experts have likened the Omicron transmission to a cyclone. Dr Shashank Joshi, who is a member of Maharashtra’s Covid-19 task force, says this is not a wave, this a cyclone. A tsunami of infections that can impact the already exhausted healthcare infrastructure in the country. He says that since almost 90 per cent cases are asymptomatic the focus is on the at-risk patients.
Coronavirus India Live News: Covid-19 Omicron Cases in India Live Count, Coronavirus Lockdown, Omicron Latest News Today, Omicron Lockdown News, Omicron Night Curfew Guidelines and Restrictions Live Updates January 25 latest Covid news