183 Omicron cases analysed, 87 fully vaccinated with 3 having booster shots: Centre

Two were partially vaccinated, seven people were unvaccinated while 16 were ineligible to receive vaccine doses in the country's national vaccination programme, the Union Health Secretary said on Friday.

Representational Image (Reuters)

New Delhi: The government said on Friday (December 24, 2021) informed that of the 358 cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus reported in India so far, 183 were analysed and it was found that 87 of them were fully vaccinated with three having received booster doses while 70 per cent were asymptomatic.

Two were partially vaccinated, seven people were unvaccinated while 16 were ineligible to receive vaccine doses in the country's national vaccination programme. The vaccination status of 73 is still unknown, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said at a press conference.

"Of the 183 Omicron cases analysed so far, 87 cases were fully vaccinated with three -- two in Delhi and one in Mumbai -- having received booster shots, 70 per cent were asymptomatic and 61 per cent were males," he said.

Bhushan said 121 cases had foreign travel history, while in 44 cases the infected had come in contact with foreign travellers and information about 18 people were still not available.

ICMR Director-General Dr Balram Bhargava said, "The predominant strain in India continues to be Delta, including the recently identified clusters. Therefore, we need to continue with the same strategy of following Covid-appropriate behaviour and ramping up vaccination."

Infection due to Omicron variant "does not necessarily lead to severe symptomatic clinical disease". In India, about a third of all the detected cases were mildly symptomatic and the rest were asymptomatic, he underlined.

"Therefore, I want to emphasise that the treatment for Omicron infected symptomatic individuals remains the same. It does not change from that for Delta, Alpha or the Beta variant."

Noting the world is witnessing the fourth surge in COVID-19 cases, the government on Friday cautioned people against lowering the guard, particularly during year-end festivities, even as it underlined that infection due to Omicron does not necessarily lead to severe symptomatic disease.

Of the 358 cases of Omicron variant detected so far in 17 states and Union Territories, 114 have recovered or migrated, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated at 8 am.

The country has 244 active cases of the omicron variant of coronavirus.

Maharashtra has recorded the maximum of 88 cases of the Omicron variant followed by Delhi at 67, Telangana 38, Tamil Nadu 34, Karnataka 31 and Gujarat 30.

Bhushan said that 1,51,368 cases of the Omicron variant and 26 confirmed deaths have been detected across 108 countries, Bhushan said.

The 10 countries classified on basis of the highest Omicron cases are the UK, Denmark, Canada, Norway, Germany, the US, South Africa, France, Australia and Estonia, he added.