:# Omicron alert in States: A day after two confirmed Omicron cases were reported from India, several States, including Karnataka, Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, have reported Covid-19 cases from ‘ät risk’ countries that are being closely watched.
Read more: As international travellers test positive, States on Omicron alert
# Missing travellers: Even as concerns mounted about 57 travellers from high-risk countries who have gone missing after furnishing false phone numbers and incorrect addresses, the Karnataka government said it is taking all measures to combat a possible third wave.
# Maharashtra’s vigil: After two people in Karnataka tested positive for the Omicron coronavirus variant, the State government has put bordering villages in Maharashtra on alert.
Read more: Omicron patients in Karnataka: Maharashtra puts bordering villages on alert
# Samples sent: Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said the swab samples of 28 persons, who returned to the state from high-risk countries last month with nine of them already testing Covid-19 positive, have been sent for genome sequencing amid concerns over the new Omicron variant of the virus.
Read more | Maharashtra: Samples of 28 returnees from high-risk countries sent for genome sequencing
# No Omicron: There is no case of Omicron in Tamil Nadu, clarified State Health Minister M Subramanian this morning on reports in social media that one case each was reported in Tiruchi and Chennai.
Read more: There is no case of Omicron Covid variant in Tamil Nadu, clarifies M Subramanian
# Sets aside verdict: A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court, on Friday, set aside a Single Judges’ verdict allowing those willing to take a second paid dose of Covishield vaccine four weeks after the first jab, instead of the 84-day gap.
Read more: Kerala HC sets aside verdict allowing second dose of paid Covishield 4 weeks after first jab
# Six booster candidates: As India debates the need for vaccine booster shots, a trial in the UK has found that six different Covid vaccines were safe as boosters and they created a strong immune response in people who have taken two doses of the OxfordUniversity-AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, respectively.
Read more: Six vaccines safe as boosters, finds UK study
# Delta still the fire: “Omicron is a spark that’s on the horizon. Delta variant is the fire that’s here today,” said Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the state Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Maine, where a record 334 people were in the hospital with Covid-19 as of midweek.
Read more: As omicron Covid variant looms, US is still battling the delta wave