Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a review meeting on the COVID-19 situation in the country on Thursday evening amid rising concerns over the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. Official sources said Modi took stock of the pandemic situation across the country in a high-level meeting attended by senior officials and experts. India has recorded 236 cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus across 16 states and Union Territories (UTs) so far, out of which 104 people have recovered or migrated, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Thursday.

Here are the latest updates from the pandemic:

#Amid growing concern over the new coronavirus variant Omicron, the Madhya Pradesh government on Thursday imposed a night curfew in the state from 11 pm to 5 am as a precautionary measure and advised people to strictly follow COVID-19 protocols.

#Delhi has recorded over 96 percent increase in COVID-19 cases in the last fortnight ending Wednesday, official data showed. The total number of cases was 362 in the week spanning December 9-15 that rose to 712 in the next seven days from December 16 to December 22, it showed.

# US health regulators on Thursday authorized the second pill against COVID-19, providing another easy-to-use medication to battle the rising tide of omicron infections. The Food and Drug Administration authorization comes one day after the agency cleared a competing drug from Pfizer. That pill is likely to become the first-choice treatment against the virus, thanks to its superior benefits and milder side effects.

# Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a review meeting on the COVID-19 situation in the country on Thursday evening amid rising concerns over the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. Official sources said Modi took stock of the pandemic situation across the country in a high-level meeting attended by senior officials and experts

#Mumbai on Thursday reported 602 fresh COVID-19 cases and one death, which raised its overall tally to 7,68,750 and fatality count to 16,367, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. A total of 207 patients were discharged from hospitals during the day, taking the cumulative recovery figure to 7,46,991.

#Canceled holiday parties, booster-shot recommendations and advisories to work from home are the new normal for Wall Street companies reacting to the fast-spreading Omicron COVID-19 variant ripping through New York and other financial centers.

#The Centre has spent Rs 19,675 crore to procure COVID-19 vaccines for free of cost supply to states and Union territories, according to government data. The government had earmarked Rs 35,000 crore in the Union Budget 2021-2022 for COVID-19 vaccination.

# Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal reviews preparedness amid Omicron scare. He says:

- Have made preparations to deal with up to 1 lakh cases daily

- Made all preparations considering Omicron is highly transmissible but causes very mild infection, less hospitalisations and deaths

- Ordered hiring agencies to manage patients in home isolation. Up to 1 lakh households can be covered in a day

- Creating buffer stock of medicines that can last two months

# 12 new cases of Omicron have been confirmed in Karnataka today taking the tally to 31, says state Health Minister Dr Sudhakar K.

# Centre tells States/UTs to "Observe all precautions; don't let your guard down" during a review of COVID-19 status and preparedness in view of Omicron variant. States are advised to be vigilant and monitor case positivity, doubling rate, clusters of new cases across districts.

# AstraZeneca vaccine booster works against Omicron, Oxford lab study finds

A three-dose course of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine is effective against the rapidly-spreading Omicron coronavirus variant, the pharmaceutical company said on Thursday, citing data from an Oxford University lab study. Findings from the study, yet to be published in a peer-reviewed medical journal, match those from rivals Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna which have also found a third dose of their shots works against Omicron. The study on AstraZeneca's vaccine, Vaxzevria, showed that after a three-dose course of the vaccine, neutralising levels against Omicron were broadly similar to those against the virus's Delta variant after two doses.

# Chairman, DDMA Leh has ordered the suspension of Chadar Trek 2022, Snow leopard sighting expeditions and other winter tourism activities in the district till further orders, in view of an upsurge in COVID cases and detection of Omicron variant says Ladakh MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal.

# Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal holds a high-level meeting as Delhi reports 64 Omicron cases and to strengthen home isolation management for COVID-19 patients.

# Is the COVID-19 vaccine safe for children?

Yes, US regulators authorized Pfizer's vaccines for younger children after millions of 12- to 17-year-olds already safely got the shot, the only one available for children in the country. More than 5 million children aged 5 to 11 have gotten the first dose since early November, and government safety monitoring has not uncovered any surprise problems. This age group gets kid-size doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, a third of the amount used to vaccinate everyone 12 or older.

# Over 60 percent of the eligible population in India is fully vaccinated now, says Union Health Ministry. "Accomplishing more new feats! Congratulations India. Aided by public participation & dedicated efforts of our health workers, over 60 percent of the eligible population fully vaccinated now," tweets Union Health Ministry.

# Gujarat CM Bhupendrabhai Patel convened a high-level meeting and reviewed the current COVID-19 situation in the state. He said that about 70,000 tests are done daily. 85 percent of the eligible population has received two doses of vaccine and 95 percent has received the first dose in the state, says CMO.

# West Bengal: 29 students of standard 9th and 10th of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Kalyani tested positive for COVID-19. They were advised home quarantine as they've symptoms of cough and cold. Their guardians have been informed to take them back to their homes, says School Principal Mousumi Nag

# Total cases of Omicron variant in Tamil Nadu rises to 34, says state Health Minister Ma Subramanian. All Omicron patients are in stable condition. Results of the genome sequencing of 23 persons are awaited, adds Subramanian.

# Today's Data Highlights

- 7,495 new cases, 434 new deaths, 6,960 new recoveries, 101 the rise in the active cases

- Rise in the active cases after 12 days

- New cases below 10,000 for the 27th day

- Kerala reports 3,205 new cases, Maharashtra 1,201, Tamil Nadu 604

- Maharashtra reports more than 1,000 daily new cases for the first time in 35 days

- Kerala reports 383 new deaths (including 347 backlog), Maharashtra 8, West Bengal 8, Tamil Nadu 8

- 18 states/UTs report a rise in the active cases

- Difference between new cases reported in the last 7 days and the preceding 7 days in India is -15% (world average is +15%)

- 70.18 lakh new vaccinations. 139.7 crore total. 14.10 lakh received their first dose yesterday, 56.07 lakh second dose. 56.55 crore fully vaccinated

- 12.06 lakh new tests. Test positivity rate: 0.62% (0.51% the previous day)

- Test positivity rate below 1% for the 24th day

- Test positivity rate (weekly average): Mizoram 6.40%, Kerala 5.86%, Ladakh 2.74%

- UK reports over 1 lakh daily new cases (106k) for the first time. Other European countries also report highest daily new cases: France (84k), Spain (60k)

# India reports 7,495 new COVID-19 cases, 6,960 recoveries, and 434 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per Union Health Ministry.

Active cases: 78,291

Total recoveries: 3,42,08,926

Death toll: 4,78,759

# The total number of Omicron cases in India rises to 236, of which 104 have recovered, says Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

# Bengaluru Urban (excluding BBMP) achieves 100 percent vaccination coverage, becomes the first district in Karnataka to be fully vaccinated, tweets state Health Minister K Sudhakar.

# Maharashtra reports spike in new COVID-19 cases at 1,201; 8 die, 953 recover

Maharashtra reported 1,201 new COVID-19 cases, a sharp rise of 376 from a day ago, and eight fresh fatalities, the state health department said. With these additions, the state's COVID-19 caseload increased to 66,52,166, while the death toll rose to 1,41,375, the department said in a bulletin. It said the state did not report any fresh case of the Omicron variant of SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. There are 7,350 active COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra now after 953 patients were discharged from hospitals following recovery in the last 24 hours.The number of recovered patients stood at 64,99,760 in the state, where the case fatality rate is 2.12 percent.

# International travellers who test COVID positive at the airport will not be allowed to go to their destinations

International travellers who test positive for COVID-19 after their RT-PCR tests at the airport on their arrival to the city will not be allowed to progress to their destinations, the state health department said. These passengers must be put in separate isolation in any of the health facilities identified for this purpose. Any traveller testing positive for COVID-19 on a later date, who has a history of travel in the last 14 days to a country at risk for Omicron will be subjected to a similar isolation measure as above, the health department directed. The department said that the airport authorities must ensure that the specimens of the tests are collected on the arrival of the international passengers and sent to the School of Tropical Medicine for genome sequencing. There should an enclosure, a room or a ward, for separate isolation exclusively for the COVID affected and there should be no mixing with other positive cases.

# Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold a meeting today to review the COVID-19 related situation in the country.

# US Supreme Court agrees to hear disputes to President Joe Biden's COVID-19 vaccine-or-test mandate for large businesses and a separate requirement for healthcare workers, reports Reuters.

First Published:Dec 23, 2021 8:49 AM IST