COVID-19 News Updates

The Odisha Health Services Director, Bijay Mohapatra on Saturday (Dec 18) said that the new variant of Covid-19, called ‘Omicron’ is highly transmissible in nature. However, Mohapatra also informed that no data has emerged till date regarding the efficacy of vaccines or the mortality rate of the new variant.

Amidst the threat of the new Covid-19 variant ‘Omicron’, the Odisha Public Health Director, Niranjan Mishra on Saturday (Dec 18), warned regarding the definite possibility of a third wave in the state.

Allying fears that followed the rumours about the infected returnee, Public Health Director, Niranjan Mishra said, "We have no evidence related to this, but the district administration has been asked to submit details."

According to the global health body, the hyper mutant variant has spread to 77 countries so far.

India's active caseload is 84,565, the lowest in 569 days.

Closing of schools across the world should be the last resort in the fight against the fast-spreading Omicron Covid-19 variant, outgoing Unicef Executive Director Henrietta Fore said.

US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 50,706,733 and 805,823, according to the CSSE.

Covovax was assessed under the WHO EUL procedure based on the review of data on quality, safety and efficacy, a risk management plan, programmatic suitability, and manufacturing site inspections carried out by the Drugs Controller General of India.

Most side effects were mild to moderate and transient. Fever was very rare. The most common side effects in the vaccine recipients included pain and tenderness at the injection site, headache, muscle aches and fatigue that lasted a day on average. None of the recipients developed serious reactions like heart inflammation (myocarditis) or blood clots.

Giving details of Omicron cases in India, it said Maharashtra has reported 32 cases of the variant, Delhi (22), Rajasthan (17), Karnataka (8), Telangana (8), Gujarat (5), Kerala (5), Andhra Pradesh (1), Chandigarh (1), Tamil Nadu (1) and West Bengal (1), the government said.

A decline of 830 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 50,511,161 and 803,633, according to the CSSE.

Currently, the WHO recommends administering a third dose of any WHO-approved vaccine to those who are immunocompromised. It has also recommended a booster for recipients of the Chinese vaccines who are older than 60, where supplies allow.

However, some of the employees have been selected for attending the immediate and urgent nature of official work. The employees selected for the same will attend the official works as per the roaster arrangements.

The Omicron variant is five times more transmissible than the Delta variant and has spread its tentacles around 70 countries. This information was shared by Odisha’s Public Health director Niranjan Mishra.