COVID-19 in India: Omicron begins replacing Delta variant in terms of cases, say official sources

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KEY STORY

  • Omicron, the new mutant variant of coronavirus, has begun replacing the Delta strain in the country in terms of the number of infections, the official sources said on Friday.
  • This comes amid the country facing a sharp spike in the cases of the Omicron variant. A total of 23 States and UTs have reported the Omicron cases in India so far.
  • As many as 309 new cases of highly transmissible COVID-19 variant were detected in the last 24 hours, taking the country’s overall tally of the new mutant variant to 1,270 cases, according to the Union Health Ministry.
  • Of the total, 374 infected persons have been discharged, it added.
  • With 450 cases, Maharashtra remains the worst affected by the new variant, followed by Delhi (320), Kerala (109), Gujarat (97), Rajasthan (69), Telangana (62), Tamil Nadu (46), Karnataka (34), Andhra Pradesh (16), Haryana and Odisha 14 each, while West Bengal has reported 11 cases so far.
  • According to a study,  published in the journal Cell, the Omicron variant is largely resistant to antibodies from people who recover from COVID-19 infection, and those vaccinated with two doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

CONCLUSION

  • However, a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine, and mixing Pfizer and AstraZeneca preventives may protect well against the variant.
  • “Our cell culture studies suggest that most antibodies currently available for COVID-19 therapy will be ineffective against Omicron,” PTI quoted first author Markus Hoffmann from German Primate Center as saying.

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