5 out of 6 WHO regions report Omicron as new variant keeps world jittery | Updates

MP CM urges people to follow COVID-19 guidelines

23 countries from five of six WHO regions report Omicron cases

The emergence of the Omicron variant has understandably captured global attention. At least 23 countries from five of six WHO regions have now reported cases of Omicron, and we expect that number to grow, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu said.

Out of 3476 international passengers, 6 test positive

128 international passengers tested in TN; no positive cases

South Korea confirms first cases of new omicron coronavirus variant in five people linked to international arrivals

The Kankaria Festival to be held in Ahmedabad from December 25 to 31 and the flower show to be held from January 1 to 14 has been cancelled in view of the Covid Omicron scare.

Japan has asked international airlines to stop taking new reservations for all flights arriving in Japan until the end of December as the country further tightens its border controls against a new coronavirus variant, the transportation ministry said Wednesday. It said the request is an emergency precaution amid growing concern over the spread of the new omicron variant, reports AP.

The Centre on Wednesday opposed the Maharashtra government's order of mandatory RT-PCR testing of all international travellers at the Mumbai airport irrespective of the country of origin.

In a letter to the Additional Chief Secretary of Maharashtra government, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said: "This is in divergence with the SoPs and the guidelines issued by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of lndia".

Four people who flew into Delhi from the Netherlands and the UK in the early hours of Wednesday have tested positive for COVID-19 and their samples have been sent for genome sequencing to ascertain if they have the new variant, Omicron, news agency PTI reported.

Int'l pax from at-risk countries may be deplaned on priority

Maharashtra govt issues a notification saying a fully-vaccinated local domestic passenger can travel without RT-PCR. 

If passengers' travel history of 10-15 days shows Omicron affected areas, they'll leave after a negative RT-PCR report after 7 days of quarantine, State Minister Rajesh Tope said.

Directorate General of Civil Aviation has said it will notify its decision in due course on date of resumption of scheduled commercial international passengers airline services to/from India. It also said that situation being watched closely in view of the emergence of new COVID-19 variant.

We are awaiting genome sequencing results of 4 travellers from London and Amsterdam, who arrived at Delhi Airport today. 5 patients tested positive in a span of two days. We are running approx over 2,000 tests per day at IGI's arrivals: Dr Gauri Agarwal, founder, Genestrings Diagnostics. 

Six passengers who returned from 'Omicron variant' (South African new corona variant) affected nations are found COVID-19 positive in Maharashtra.  Their samples have been sent for genome sequencing. 

Jharkhand: Ranchi airport has commenced COVID-19 testing of all arriving passengers, in view of the emergence of Omicron variant of COVID. 

Japan banned all foreign visitors starting Tuesday as an emergency precaution against the new variant. The ban tentatively extends through the end of the year. The government is also requiring Japanese nationals arriving in the country to quarantine for up to 14 days.

On Wednesday, Japan began to administer COVID-19 booster injections to people who finished the full two shots at least eight months ago amid increasing concerns over the new Omicron variant of the COVID-19, the government said. The third dose of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech SE were provided to health care professionals across the country. The elderly and others are expected to receive booster injections from January.

In the wake of new COVID-19 variant Omicron, the Meerut Health Department has started monitoring the people coming from foreign countries, an official said. Akhilesh Mohan, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Meerut said that a total of 209 people have come from abroad in the last 12 days. The Chief Medical Officer further informed that the reports of 13 people are yet to come and others have been tested negative.