358 Omicron cases in India, world witnessing 4th surge: Centre - 10 points

India now has 358 Omicron cases, out of which 114 have recovered, said Centre.

(Source: Twitter/ANI)

New Delhi: The Centre on Friday (December 24) announced that India now has 358 Omicron cases of the coronavirus scattered in 17 States/UTs of India adding that 114 have already been recovered from the infections.

While addressing the country on the arising COVID-19 pandemic situation, Health Secretary Raj Bhushan quoting WHO said that Omicron is more transmissible than the Delta variant and 89% of the eligible population in India has been vaccinated

Here is what the Centre said about the Omicron conditions in India

• The top five states with the highest number of active cases, at the moment, are Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Karnataka.
• 358 Omicron cases in 17 States/UTs of India. The number of persons recovered is 114
• Ministry of Health and Family Welfare preemptively advised States to impose restrictions like night curfew, regulating large gatherings, increasing bed capacity and other logistics and strict enforcement of COVID appropriate behaviour.
• 89% of the adult population has received the first dose and 61% of the eligible population has received the second dose of COVID19 vaccines.
• India has 18,10,083 isolation beds, 4,94,314 O2 supported beds, 1,39,300 ICU beds, 24,057 pediatric ICU beds and 64,796 pediatric non-ICU beds available nationally.
• The world is witnessing the fourth surge & and the overall positivity is 6.1%. Therefore, we have to be on guard and we can't afford to slacken, said Bhushan.
• While Europe, North America and Africa are seeing an increase in COVID19 cases week-on-week, Asia is still witnessing a decline in cases week-on-week.
• Omicron cases double within 1.5-3 days, so we have to remain vigilant with covid appropriate behaviour.
• The predominant strain in India is Delta including the recently identified clusters. Therefore, we need to continue with the same strategy of COVID appropriate behaviour and ramping up of vaccination.
• The treatment protocols for COVID-19 and Delta will apply to Omicron.