COVID-19 News Updates

Earlier, India had decided to allow resumption of scheduled commercial international passenger services from December 15. However, the government said there will be a calibrated resumption of operations from the countries recognised as "at risk" by the Union Health Ministry.

The second worst hit country in terms of cases is India (34,587,822 infections and 468,980 deaths).

A decrease of 1,520 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the WHO advises that "persons who are unwell or at risk of developing severe Covid-19 disease and dying, including people 60 years of age or older or those with comorbidities such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes," should postpone travel plans.

Chief of the Odisha Directorate of Medical Education and Training (DMET), Rama Raman Mohanty on Tuesday (Nov 30), shared details regarding the tracing and tracking process of persons coming to India from countries with detected cases of the virus.

Amidst the threat of the new variant of Covid-19, called ‘Omicron’, Odisha Health Services Director, Bijay Mohapatra on Tuesday (Nov 30) informed that the technical team is inspecting the same as per NCDC (National Centre For Disease Control) & CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines.

At a time when Omicron, which is said to be six times more contagious, has sparked a global fear, the Central government Tuesday said it is well prepared to tackle the situation. 

Congregation in public places including hotels, restaurants, clubs, parks, convention halls and Kalyan Mandaps for Zero Night Celebration/ Welcome to New Year and similar other functions on December 31, 2021 and January 1, 2022 shall remain prohibited throughout the State.

Night curfew will continue in all urban areas of the State from 10 PM to 5 AM every day. Similarly, there will be no weekend shutdown in Odisha

The study also claimed that blood group A and Rh + types are associated with a decrease in recovery period, whereas blood group O and Rh- are associated with increase in recovery period, according to the statement.

India has so far not reported any case of the new COVID-19 variant Omicron, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya informed Parliament on Tuesday, noting that the government has taken measures to ensure that it does not reach the country.

The study provides comprehensive data on the real-world vaccine effectiveness and immunological response to vaccination which should help guide policy. The study thus implies that the vaccines continued to be effective in protecting against severe disease and death regardless of the variants.

At present, no Omicron variant has been reported in India and all measures have been taken to ensure this variant does not reach the country, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said.

The Centre on Sunday introduced stricter guidelines for people travelling from or transiting through 'at-risk' countries and issued a slew of directions to the states for ramping up testing-surveillance measures and health facilities.

Though the WHO has said it is not yet clear whether Omicron is more transmissible or causes more severe disease than the other known variants, including Delta, concerns over its impact on the efficacy of existing vaccines and treatments have been growing.