Tribune News Service
New Delhi, 5 January
India on Wednesday reported the first death related to Omicron Kovid-19 of a 73-year-old man in Udaipur, Rajasthan, who died due to the virus. The patient, who had multiple comorbidities, including severe diabetes, died last week and was confirmed to be positive for Omicron after his death. It turned out that he had received both doses of the vaccine.
ICMR today reiterated that the COVID vaccines were “disease modifying vaccines and not disease-preventing vaccines”.
ICMR chief Balram Bhargava said, “You can still get infected after getting the Kovid vaccine, but you will get a high level of protection from serious illness and even death.”
Health ministry confirmed India’s first micron death in a day when daily new cases topped 58,097, highest in 199 days and active caseload crossed 2 lakh mark at 2,14,004, highest in 81 days Was.
India added 1,38,163 active cases in nine days with the active caseload at 75,841 on December 27. New cases have increased 6.3 times since December 29, when they were 9,195 as against 58,097 today.
With six states now reporting over 10,000 active cases as against two last week, member, health, NITI Aayog, VK Paul and ICMR chief said the pandemic was expanding.
Data shows India is staring at a massive third wave in terms of virus reproduction numbers (R0 – the number of people infecting a patient) from levels reached during the height of the second wave’s peak in May 2020. is more.
“We are now facing a rapid increase in COVID cases driven by the Omron variant, especially in large cities. The pandemic is spreading. The virus’s reproduction factor is 2.69, compared to 1.69 at the height of the second wave peak. The daily positivity rate has increased from 1.1 per cent on December 30, 2021 to 5 per cent today. There is no room for complacency, ”said Paul.
He said that although global trends have shown that omicrons increase rapidly and then cases also fall rapidly, but this cannot be extrapolated due to different conditions in India.
Government experts also warned people against taking Omicron lightly, with Paul saying that if the pandemic continues to spread, health systems and homes could be overwhelmed by the sheer number of sick people.
Over 1 crore children beaten up, Andhra Pradesh leads
- Till Wednesday, the first dose of Covaxin has been administered to more than 10 million children in the age group of 15 to 18 years.
- Health ministry data showed that Andhra Pradesh was leading the child immunization chart, covering 39.8% of beneficiaries with the first dose
- Himachal, covering 37% of adolescents with the first dose, is at the second position and Gujarat is at the third position with 30.9%.
- The census shows that there are 7.4 crore children in the age group of 15 to 18 years. Overall, India has given 147.72 crore doses till date. tns
National Museum closed for visitors
All the galleries of National Museum, New Delhi have been closed for visitors till further orders in view of the evolving COVID situation in Delhi. However, all the departments of the National Museum will remain open as per the orders of DoPT, Government of India and all the protocols of COVID-19 will be followed. tns