Karnataka logged five new cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus on Sunday, said state Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar. Among the new cases, one is a male patient while the four are women.
The cases have been reported from Dharwad, Bhadravathi, Udupi and Mangaluru.
With the confirmation of new infections, Karnataka so far reported 13 cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19. A new variant of COVID-19 was first reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO) from South Africa on November 25. As per the WHO, the first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on November 9 this year.
On November 26, the WHO named the new COVID-19 variant B.1.1.529, which has been detected in South Africa, as ‘Omicron’. The WHO has classified Omicron as a ‘variant of concern’.
India reported 7,081 fresh COVID-19 cases and 264 deaths in the last 24 hours, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday.
With the administration of 76,54,466 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 137.46 Cr (1,37,46,13,252) as per provisional reports till 7 am today. This has been achieved through 1,44,53,135 sessions.
The recovery of 7,469 patients in the last 24 hours has increased the cumulative tally of recovered patients (since the beginning of the pandemic) to 3,41,78,940.
Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 98.38%, highest since March 2020.
Sustained and collaborative efforts by the Centre and the States/UTs continue the trend of less than 15,000 Daily New Cases that is being reported for last 52 days now.