Coronavirus News highlights: Covid variant Omicron 'not a cause for panic', says Joe Biden

A man from Maharashtra's Thane man has tested Covid positive after returning from South Africa. It is not yet known if it is a case of the Omicron variant. Meanwhile, Botswana detected 19 cases of the Omicron Covid variant. Stay tuned to DH for updates.

Covid variant Omicron 'not a cause for panic': Biden

President Joe Biden on Monday told Americans the newly-identified Covid variant Omicron "is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic" in a televised address from the White House.

"We have more tools today to fight the variant than we've ever had before," he said, adding his chief medical advisor Anthony Fauci expected current vaccines would remain protective, with boosters enhancing protection. - AFP.

India offers to help African nations deal with Omicron, ready to send vaccines

India has offered to expeditiously send Covid-19 vaccines to the countries in Africa to help contain the new Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Read more

Amid Omicron, Karnataka's resident doctors go on strike

Amid the fear of Covid-19 Omicron variant, nearly 5,000 resident doctors in Karnataka on Monday launched an indefinite strike to press the government to fulfill their three demands including restructuring academic fees as per the 2018-19 academic year.

Read more

Sputnik vaccine backer RDIF developing Omicron booster

The backers of the Russian Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V said Monday that the jab is effective against the new Omicron coronavirus variant but they were also developing an adapted booster.

Read more

UN chief 'deeply concerned' by southern Africa's isolation over Covid strand

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday he was "deeply concerned" as countries around the world imposed travel restrictions on southern Africa in an attempt to stop the spread of a worrying new Covid-19 variant discovered there.

"The people of Africa cannot be blamed for the immorally low level of vaccinations available in Africa -- and they should not be penalized for identifying and sharing crucial science and health information with the world," Guterres said in a statement. - AFP.

Are current RT-PCR tests enough to detect Omicron variant?

Omicron, the newly-detected Covid variant which has stoked fears of vaccine resistance, is the most mutated version of the virus found so far.

Read more

No 'Omicron' variant case detected in TN so far, says govt

The Tamil Nadu government on Monday said no case of the latest variant of coronavirus, 'Omicron', has been detected in the state so far and insisted that surveillance has been stepped up across the airports to prevent its spread here.

On Monday, the state logged 730 new Covid-19 cases and nine deaths. The cumulative positives climbed to 27,26,197 while the nine new fatalities pushed the overall toll to 36,472, according to a government bulletin here. - PTI.

Fauci urges vaccines as US on 'high alert' for Covid variant

Senior government scientist Anthony Fauci said Monday the United States was on "high alert" for the new Covid-19 variant and urged people to get vaccinated after Canada confirmed its first cases of the new strain.

"No confirmed cases (of Omicron) but obviously we're on high alert," Fauci said on ABC's "Good Morning America."

Fauci also encouraged people to get coronavirus vaccines or boosters quickly, rather than waiting for pharmaceutical companies to tailor doses specifically to the Omicron variant. - AFP.

No plan for lockdown in Karnataka: CM Bommai on Omicron variant

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai made it clear that there is no proposal before the government for a lockdown in the state.

Read more

6 out of 10 companies adopted 'work from home' policy post Covid-19 relaxations: Survey

As the pandemic pushed employers to explore and adapt new ways to stay in the business, a survey has revealed that 6 out of 10 organisations have adopted 'work from home' policy post Covid-19 relaxations.

Over 65 per cent of the employers have either introduced 'work from home' as a policy or are evaluating the same reflecting a maturity and the confidence in their employees, according to a survey by Grant Thornton Bharat. - PTI.

BioNTech starts work on Omicron-specific vaccine

BioNTech SE said on Monday it had started work on a vaccine tailored to Omicron, the worrying new coronavirus variant detected in South Africa, though it was not yet clear if it would have to rework its established Covid-19 shot.

The development of an adapted vaccine is part of the company's standard procedure for new variants, BioNTech, which makes vaccines together with Pfizer, said in a statement. - Reuters.

Sample of one person who came from South Africa is different from Delta, says Sudhakar

Amid the Omicron variant of Covid-19 creating concern globally, Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Monday said the sample of one of the two persons who arrived in Bengaluru recently from South Africa is 'different from the Delta variant'.

The minister said he was not supposed to say anything officially as he was still in touch with the union health ministry and the Indian Council for Medical Research officials.

Read more

BJP-ruled states doing better than those ruled by opposition: Officials on vaccination drive

Eight BJP-ruled states have fully vaccinated 50 per cent of their eligible population with the coronavirus vaccine and seven of them have inoculated 90 per cent people with the first dose, numbers not yet achieved by any state ruled by the Congress and its allies, official sources said Monday.

With some Opposition-ruled states pushing for booster doses, sources said it was ironical as they have not been able to vaccinate enough people so far, in stark contrast to the performance of BJP-ruled states. They also wondered if politics has impacted the vaccination drive in these states. - PTI.

Australian border reopening delayed amid Omicron concerns

The Australian government has delayed the reopening of the country's borders amid concerns over the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Monday night that the National Security Committee (NSC) pushed the planned easing of border restrictions for international students and visa holders back from December 1 to December 15. - IANS.

No case of new 'Omicron' variant of coronavirus detected in India yet: Official

No case of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus has been detected in India yet, a senior government official said on Monday.

The B.1.1.529 Covid variant or Omicron, first detected in South Africa last week, was designated by the World Health Organisation as a 'variant of concern', the health body's top category for worrying coronavirus variants. - PTI.

New Covid variant stokes concern but vaccines still most important tool: Experts

The Omicron variant carries “concerning” mutations that may make it more transmissible and allow it to evade immunity, scientists said on Monday, stressing that the one certainty in the uncertainty of the many things unknown is this -- Covid is not a short-term crisis and vaccines are still a critical tool.

As the world – and India – slides into escalated Covid anxiety and the global scientific community grapples with the emergence of a new strain with multiple mutations, several experts here said current Covid vaccines are likely to be effective against Omicron too. - PTI.

Dr. Reddy's eyes Sputnik V vaccine exports after domestic struggle

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories is in talks with partners to export domestically made doses of Russia's Covid-19 vaccine, Sputnik, after New Delhi recently approved shipments of other shots, the firm said on Monday.

As the main Indian distributor of Sputnik, sold only on the private market, Dr. Reddy's has struggled to compete with vaccines that the government distributes free. - Reuters.

Couple caught fleeing Dutch Covid-19 quarantine moved to "forced isolation"

A couple caught trying to escape from Covid-19 quarantine in the Netherlands after testing positive for the coronavirus have been transferred to a hospital where they were being held in isolation, an official said on Monday.

The pair, a Spanish man and Portuguese woman, left the hotel where travellers who tested positive for the virus were staying after arriving at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport from South Africa.

"They have now been transferred to a hospital elsewhere in the Netherlands to ensure they are in isolation. They are now in so-called forced isolation," said Petra Faber, spokesperson for Haarlemmermeer municipality, where Schiphol is located just outside of the capital. - Reuters.

Britain to unveil new booster guidance as Omicron Covid variant spreads

Britain is set to unveil new guidance on speeding up and extending the rollout of Covid-19 booster shots on Monday, a junior health minister said, adding he was braced for more cases of the variant of concern Omicron.

Read more

Bharat Biotech resumes exports of Covaxin

Indian vaccine maker Bharat Biotech said on Monday it has resumed export of its Covid-19 shot, Covaxin, and has executed long-pending orders in November.

Read more

Opinion | Omicron: Harmonising international Covid-19 evidence

Last week's reported discovery of the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus and, relatedly, the alertness of South African scientists and their genomic surveillance points to the immediate need for harmonising international Covid-19 scientific evidence. For indeed, if harmonisation doesn't happen proactively and systematically, the incentives are often not aligned for nations to share evidence cross-nationally.

Read more

Are new Covid-19 variants linked to low vaccination?

The emergence of a new SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern, Omicron, has reignited global discussions of vaccine distribution, virus mutation, and immunity against new virus strains.

Read more

South Africa could top 10,000 daily Covid cases this week: Epidemiologist

The newly-discovered Omicron variant is likely to fuel a surge in South Africa's coronavirus cases that could see daily infections treble this week, a top epidemiologist warned Monday.

Health monitors reported over 2,800 infections on Sunday, up from a daily average of 500 in the previous week and 275 the week before.

"We can expect that higher transmissibility is likely and so we are going to get more cases quickly," Dr Salim Abdool Karim said at an online health ministry press briefing. - AFP.

Delhi logs 34 new cases of Covid-19, one more death

Omicron poses 'very high' global risk, countries must prepare: WHO

The Omicron variant is likely to spread internationally, posing a "very high" global risk where Covid-19 surges could have "severe consequences" in some areas, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday.

Read More

Heavy police presence could be seen in and around Parliament premises

We should stay alert in view of reports about new variant of Covid-19: PM Modi

First image of Omicron shows many more mutations than Delta

The new Covid variant Omicron has many more mutations than the Delta variant, according to a first "image" of this new variant initially detected in South Africa, produced and published by the prestigious Bambino Gesu hospital in Rome.

Read more

Botswana detects 19 cases of the Omicron Covid variant (AFP)

Thane man tests Covid positive after returning from South Africa

A man who returned from South Africa to Dombivali in Thane district of Maharashtra recently has tested positive for coronavirus, a Kalyan-Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) official said on Sunday.

Read more