New Delhi: On Monday Delhi reported 4 new Omicron cases, taking their tally to 28. According to the Delhi Health Department, 12 of such cases have been discharged and the other 16 are under treatment. The 4 people, found to be infected with the variant, are admitted to Max hospital, Saket. Given the rise in cases of the new coronavirus variant, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, “Now all positive cases in Delhi will be sent for genome sequencing for Omicron.” Earlier, we were testing those coming from the airport for Omicron, now we will test 100% of positive cases for Omicron, he said.
Addressing a press conference on Monday, the CM stated that he had held a meeting with experts and the L-G on the spread of Omicron. “Experts have said that Omicron spreads quickly but it has mild symptoms it has fewer hospitalizations and cases of death,” he added. He stated that while Delhi is prepared in case of a larger number of hospitalizations. They will also be strengthening the home isolation measures in the national capital, he said. Amid rising cases of Omicron in the national capital, 3 private hospitals have been directed by the Delhi government to set up isolation units for patients coming from ‘at risk’ countries.
India’s Omicron cases count rose to 171 on Monday after Delhi reported 6, Karnataka logged 5, and Kerala recorded 4 more cases of the new coronavirus variant, respectively. The Centre has warned it is likely that the spread of the new variant will outpace the Delta variant where there is community transmission. It has advised people to avoid non-essential travel and mass gatherings and keep New Year celebrations at low intensity. The World Health Organization stressed on urgent scale-up of public health and social measures to curtail the further spread of the Omicron variant.