Coronavirus India Latest Updates: India's Omicron Tally Crosses 100; Avoid Non-Essential Travel: ICMR

A new phase of the Covid-19 pandemic is being experienced in Europe with a steep rise in cases, VK Paul, Member-Health, Niti Aayog said on the omicron threat.

"We need to ensure the India doesn’t see such kind of spread currently being witnessed in Europe. Need to also prepare ourselves to face such situation effectively," he added.

Districts with more than 5% test positivity rate need to ensure local restrictive measure, says ICMR DG Dr. Balram Bhargava.

Restrictive measure should be in place in the districts until the positivity rate comes below 5% for at least two weeks, he added.

There are about 24 districts reporting over 5% positivity rate.

The spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus is worrying, ICMR DG Dr. Balram Bhargava said.

"Time to avoid non-essential travel and mass gatherings, while focusing on low-intensity festivities," he said.

India's total tally of omicron variant of the coronavirus has reached 101, with Maharashtra contributing the most at 32 cases.

The 101 cases are spread across 11 states, Joint Secretary at Ministry of Health Lav Agarwal said. Delhi, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Kerala, Gujarat, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have all reported cases, Agarwal said.

Delhi reported ten new cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus on Friday. The state's tally currently stands at 20, the health department said.

Four new cases were reported in the city on Thursday. With this the total Omicron cases in India rose to 89.

India's active coronavirus cases continue to fall as fresh infections lag daily recoveries despite a rise in Omicron tally.

As many as 7,447 people tested positive for the coronavirus in the last 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry’s update at 8 a.m. on Dec. 17. That compares with nearly 7,886 recoveries during the period.

India's active caseload accounts for 0.25% of the total tally.

The nation's daily positivity rate stood at 0.59%. It has stayed less than 2% for the last 74 days. The weekly positivity rate at 0.63% remained below 1% for the last 33 days.

Hyderabad and Karnataka together reported nine more Omicron cases.

In Karnataka, five more cases of the new variant have been detected, state Health Minister Sudhakar K tweeted. With this the state's Omicron tally has reached eight.

All of the five new Omicron positive patients were fully vaccinated against Covid with Covishield vaccine, the state health department said.

In Hyderabad, four people tested positive for the new virus variant, taking the total number of such cases to seven in Telangana, as per the state health department.