Coronavirus Live Updates | First case of Omicron reported in Kerala

The death toll mounted to 4,75,434 with the addition of 306 new fatalities.

December 12, 2021 07:53 am | Updated December 13, 2021 07:49 am IST

Health worker administering a jab on Mega vaccination camp in Vellore. File Image.

Health worker administering a jab on Mega vaccination camp in Vellore. File Image.

You can track coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates at the national and State levels here . A list of State Helpline numbers is available as well.

Here are the latest developments :

Kerala

First case of Omicron reported in Kerala

The first case of COVID-19 variant Omicron has been confirmed in Kerala, state Health Minister Veena George said on Sunday.

In a video posted on her Facebook page, the minister said that the patient was a Kerala native who recently came from the United Kingdom.

 

Karnataka

Third case of Omicron in Karnataka

A third case of Omicron has been detected in Karnataka.

The Health Minister confirmed that a 34-year-old male who returned from South Africa has tested positive for the new variant.

Health Minister K. Sudhakar tweeted on December 12: "Third case of #Omicron has been detected in Karnataka. A 34-year-old male returning from South Africa has tested positive. He is isolated and being treated in a govt hospital. 5 primary and 15 secondary contacts have been traced and sampled sent for testing."

Maharashtra

Nagpur reports its first Omicron case; man who returned from West Africa found infected

Nagpur in Maharashtra reported its first Omicron case on Sunday with a 40-year-old man testing positive for this variant of coronavirus after returning from a West African country, an official said.

With this, the state's tally of Omicron cases has gone up to 18.

Talking to PTI , Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) commissioner Radhakrishnan B. said, "The man, a local resident, came from a country in West Africa around eight days back. On his arrival, he tested positive for COVID-19. After that he was admitted to a city hospital and his sample was sent for genome sequencing. The report that came today confirmed that he is infected with the Omicron variant." But all his contacts have tested negative for the infection, he said. - PTI

Chandigarh

Chandigarh reports first Omicron case

A 20-year-old man hailing from Italy, who reached Chandigarh last month has tested positive for Omicron variant of COVID-19, said an official statement on Sunday.

It’s the first case of the Omicron variant in Union Territory - Chandigarh.

The person, who is fully vaccinated is a resident of Italy, had landed in India on November 22 and then came to Chandigarh to visit his relatives, said a statement issued by the health department. - Vikas Vasudeva

 

National

Long COVID: Time and medical support will help patients to recover properly, say doctors

With the medical community now having had the time to map long COVID, doctors confirm that they are seeing patients whose symptoms have persisted for more than 12 months. They say that older people, and those who had five or more symptoms in the first week of becoming ill with COVID-19 are more prone to develop long COVID.

Long COVID symptoms gradually improve over a period of time, but can last for more than 12 months.

 

Andhra Pradesh

First Omicron case reported in AP

A 34-year-old foreign traveler, who came from Ireland to Visakhapatnam, was found positive of the Omicron variant of COVID-19. He does not have any symptoms.

The patient was again tested on Saturday, and the RT-PCR result was found to be negative, said the officials of Director of Public Health, in a statement issued on Sunday.

 

National

Active case decline to 92,281 lowest in 560 days

With 7,774 people testing positive for coronavirus infection in a day, India's COVID-19 tally climbed to 3,46,90,510, while the number of active cases declined to 92,281, lowest in 560 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.

The death toll mounted to 4,75,434 with the addition of 306 new fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 a.m.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been recorded below 15,000 for the last 45 days now- PTI

Brazil

Brazil justice rules vaccine passport mandatory for visitors

A Brazilian Supreme Court justice ruled Saturday that all travelers arriving in Brazil must present a vaccine passport documenting they have been vaccinated against the coronavirus.

The decision from Luís Roberto Barroso challenges a more lenient rule announced by the government of President Jair Bolsonaro, who has opposed mandatory immunization against the virus that can cause COVID-19.

The federal government announced Tuesday that travelers arriving in Brazil did not have to produce a vaccine passport though they would have to undergo a five-day quarantine.- AP

Israel

Israeli study finds Pfizer COVID-19 booster protects against Omicron

Israeli researchers said on Saturday they found that a three-shot course of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine provided significant protection against the new Omicron variant.

The findings were similar to those presented by BioNTech and Pfizer earlier in the week, which were an early signal that booster shots could be key to protect against infection from the newly identified variant.

The study, carried out by Sheba Medical Center and the Health Ministry's Central Virology Laboratory, compared the blood of 20 people who had received two vaccine doses 5-6 months earlier to the same number of individuals who had received a booster a month before.- Reuters

France

France approves antibody therapy for high-risk Covid cases

French health authorities have approved the use of an anti-body treatment made by AstraZeneca for high-risk people who show resistance to vaccines against coronavirus.

The independent public health body HAS Friday night announced "a greenlight for the preventive use of Evusheld... for patients with a very high-risk of contracting a severe form of Covid-19".

Evusheld, developed by the British-Swedish pharma company, this week received emergency use authorisation in the United States for adults and children aged 12 and above.

The French approval is for adults only.

Evusheld, which is made from a combination of two monoclonal antibodies, is administered in two injections.- AFP

National

Finance ministry says Omicron likely to be a ‘less severe’ risk

India’s economic recovery is expected to gain further strength in the second half of this year, following the 8.4% GDP growth recorded in Q2, the Finance Ministry said on Saturday, citing preliminary evidence that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 may be a ‘less severe’ risk.

Stressing that India is one of the few countries to record four consecutive quarters of growth amid COVID-19, the ministry said the country will catch up with pre-pandemic levels of economic activity for the full year of 2021-22.

 

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