Number of Omicron patients in India increases to 38
The number of Omicron patients in India ticked up to 38 as five fresh cases surfaced — one each in Chandigarh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Kerala. For Andhra Pradesh and Chandigarh, these were the first cases.
Meanwhile, World Health Organization has said that the Omicron coronavirus variant is more transmissible than the Delta strain and reduces vaccine efficacy but causes less severe symptoms according to early data.
The Delta variant, first identified in India earlier this year, is responsible for most of the world’s coronavirus infections.
But South Africa’s discovery of Omicron — which has a large number of mutations — last month prompted countries around the world to impose travel bans on southern African countries and reintroduce domestic restrictions to slow its spread.