Two more Omicron cases detected in Gujarat, India's tally rises to 25

Jamnagar (Gujarat) : Two more Omicron variant cases have been reported in Gujarat, today taking India’s tally of the new variant to 25.

The wife and brother-in-law of an NRI man, who had been found infected with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Gujarat’s Jamnagar a week back, were also detected with the new strain, officials of the Jamnagar Municipal Corporation (JMC) informed.

With this, Gujarat now has three patients of Omicron, classified as a ‘variant of concern’ by the WHO after it was detected in Africa last month.

India reported 23 cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19 and authorities are closely monitoring the situation, top officials of the Health Ministry informed a parliamentary panel on December 9.

Out of the four states Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Rajasthan which as detected with Omicron cases, Maharashtra leads the chart with 10 cases, followed by Rajasthan with nine and Gujarat with three cases of Omicron variant.

India also decided to keep scheduled international passenger flights suspended till January 31 next year.

The DGCA issued a circular on Thursday, saying, "The competent authority has decided to extend the suspension of scheduled international commercial passenger services to and from India till 2359 hours of January 31, 2022."

The Union government has asked states and Union Territories to ensure adequate buffer stock of the eight critical drugs used for clinical treatment of COVID-19 and advised them to review the readiness of hospitals to deal with any possible surge in cases.