Insight Bureau: India saw a massive spike of 90,928 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, according to the data revealed by the Union health ministry Thursday morning. Also, 325 more people succumbed to the infection in a day, pushing the nationwide toll to 4,82,876.
Several states including Delhi, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala are witnessing an exponential rise in Covid-19 cases. Experts suggest that the new Omicron variant is behind this massive spike in cases.
Meanwhile, the government has ruled out mixing Covid-19 vaccines for precautionary dose. Addressing a health briefing, Dr V K Paul said precautionary Covid-19 vaccine dose will be the same as the one given previously.
The Maharashtra government on Wednesday decided to discontinue physical classes in colleges and universities till 15 February amid rising cases of Covid-19.
Kerala government on Tuesday imposed new restrictions across the state in the view of rising COVID cases, fueled by the Omicron variant. The new curbs include putting a cap on the number of people attending any events. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan chaired COVID-19 evaluation meeting that decided on the new curbs.
As many as 2,038 fresh Covid cases were detected in the state on Wednesday from UP, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath held a high-level meeting to review the situation and directed the officials to declare holiday in all schools up to Class 10 till January 16, an official spokesperson said.
Odisha recorded the highest single-day jump in Covid-19 cases in over five months on Thursday as 1,897 persons, including 258 children from 0-18 years, tested positive for the virus. One person succumbed to the virus today. Its not confirmed yet whether she died of Omicron or not.
On the other hand,The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the rise in Omicron cases-which has quickly become the dominant variant-could pave the way for a new, more dangerous variant.