Amid Omicron variant scare reeling over India, the Union Health Ministry on Friday updating over the COVID-19 situation said that it is the time now to avoid non-essential travel, mass gatherings and it is very important to observe low-intensity festivities. The health ministry's statement comes in the wake of Christmas and New Year celebrations which is nearly a week ahead.
Dr. Balram Bhargava, DG ICMR on the emergence of Omicron variant at a press briefing said "this is the time to avoid non-essential travel, mass gatherings and it is very important to observe low-intensity festivities."
Dr Bhargava said that we have been discussing these anti-viral COVID-19 pills and added that we have found that these pills need to be given very early, even before the diagnosis of the disease. "Scientific data is still not supported in a big way that the pills will be useful at the moment," he added.
Currently, there are 101 Omicron variant cases across 11 states in the country and globally the variant has been detected in 91 countries including India.
World Health Organisation has said that Omicron is spreading faster than the Delta variant in South Africa where Delta circulation was low.
Meanwhile, India on Friday reported 7,447 new COVID-19 cases and 391 deaths in the last 24 hours, Union Health Ministry said.
As per the ministry, the active caseload in the country stands at 86,415.
With as many as 7,886 recoveries in the last 24 hours, the tally of total recoveries from the virus since the beginning of the pandemic stands at 3,41,62,765.
The COVID-19 death toll in India, as shared by the ministry, is 4,76,869.
A total of 1,35,99,96,267 vaccinations have been done so far.
