Also, the government said four more countries are being added to the travel ban red list from 4 AM on Sunday: Angola, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia. This adds to the six countries on the ban list since Friday South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
Officials briefed the prime minister about the new Variant of Concern Omicron along with its characteristics and the impact seen in various countries, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a statement.
Countries must enhance surveillance and sequencing. They should assess the risk of importation through international travel based on updated information on circulating variants and response capacities, and take measures accordingly.
In the letter, Mishra stated that the Ministry of Home Affairs in March, 2020 made a commitment for disbursement of ex-gratia payment of Rs 4 lakh per deceased. Later, the Central government revised the notification and reduced the ex-gratia amount to Rs 50,000.
The variant which has been detected in South Africa, Botswana and Hong Kong has now forced several countries including India to initiate precautionary measures to prevent its spread.
To confirm its effectiveness, Kaufmann and Brunet-Ratnasingham tested the model on two independent cohorts of infected patients from during the first wave of the pandemic and then during the second and third waves.
With 10,967 recoveries, the total recoveries have surged up to 3,39,88,797. The recovery rate is currently at 98.34 per cent, the highest since March 2020, whereas the active cases stand at 1,07,019 after falling by 3,114 cases since Friday.
The second worst-hit country in terms of cases is India (34,555,431 infections and 467,468 deaths), followed by Brazil (22,067,630 infections and 613,957 deaths).
Of the 57 infected, swab samples of 21 students will be collected today and sent to Institute of Life Sciences in Bhubaneswar tomorrow for genome sequencing
Covid test of the students were conducted after majority of them showed symptoms of cold and cough
Based on the evidence presented indicative of a detrimental change in COVID-19 epidemiology, the TAG-VE has advised WHO that this variant should be designated as a Variant of Concern, and the WHO has designated B.1.1.529 as a VOC, named Omicron.
According to the source, the Union government has allowed the commercial export of both vaccines - Covishield and Covaxin - in view of sufficient stock of the vaccines available with the states and Union Territories, and also with the manufacturers.
First identified in South Africa this week, the strain has spread to nearby countries, including Botswana. Israel has identified a case of a Covid-19 variant with a large number of mutations "in a person who returned from Malawi".
Amid reports of new COVID variant, the Union Health Ministry on Thursday (Nov 23) issued an advisory for all states and union territories.
The variant, which could be named 'Nu' by the World Health Organization in the coming days, has caused an "exponential" rise in infections in South Africa and has already spread to three countries, including Hong Kong and Botswana, where it is believed to have emerged.
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