COVID-19 News Updates

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.

In contrast, the Omicron variant replicated less efficiently (more than 10 times lower) in the human lung tissue than the original SARS-CoV-2 virus, which may suggest lower severity of disease.

A strict surveillance is now being kept on the incoming visitors to the State, especially on the foreign returnees from other countries. The Centre had earlier asked States to mark separate isolation facilities for all the patients infected with the Omicron variant particularly in the designated Covid treatment facilities in their respective jurisdictions.

A decline of 317 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The second worst hit country in t In its latest update on Terms of cases is India (34,710,628 infections and 476,135 deaths), followed by Brazil (22,201,221 infections and 617,271 deaths).

Asked about it, a senior Health Department official said: "We cannot confirm whether he is negative from a single test. At least two tests are required and we have collected his specimen today."

Odisha districts sharing their borders with Andhra Pradesh are on focus since the neighbouring state has already reported an Omicron case.

WHO Director General Tedros A. Ghebreyesus said that a total of 77 countries have reported Omicron cases so far but the reality is that this variant is probably yet to be detected in some countries.

The second worst hit country in terms of cases is India (34,703,644 infections and 475,888 deaths), followed by Brazil (22,195,775 infections and 616,970 deaths).

A decline of 1,431 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

Pfizer also released early data from a second clinical trial showing that the treatment reduced hospitalisations by around 70 per cent in around 600 standard-risk adults.

Besides South Africa, the Omicron strain has surged Covid cases in many countries including France, Russia, the US, and Israel. In the UK, it is expected to replace Delta as the dominant variant and the UK Health Security Agency estimates that the number of daily infections could touch 200,000.