Here are updates about the new coronavirus variant from Monday:

  1. The government on Monday said that it is ready to support the countries affected in Africa in dealing with the Omicron variant of coronavirus, reported ANI. “The Government of India stands ready to support the countries affected in Africa in dealing with the Omicron variant, including by supplies of Made-in-India vaccines,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. “Supplies can be undertaken through COVAX or bilaterally.”
  2. The government said that all international passengers have to submit 14 days’ travel history and upload a negative RT-PCR test report on the Air Suvidha portal before the journey. Travellers coming from countries deemed “at-risk”, including the United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel, will need to take the coronavirus test post-arrival and wait for results at the airport before leaving or taking any connecting flights. If tested negative, they have to be in home quarantine for seven days followed by a re-test on the eighth day. The revised guidelines come into effect from December 1.
  3. Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar on Monday said that the sample of one of the two Covid-positive passengers who arrived in Bengaluru from South Africa has showed a strain “different from the Delta variant”, reported PTI. The sample has been sent to Indian Council of Medical Research, he said. “We will discuss with the ICMR officials and will let people know by the evening what it is,” the minister added.
  4. The World Health Organisation has warned that the risks related to Covid variant Omicron are “very high”, reported AFP. Last week, the global health body had designated it as a “variant of concern”.
  5. Thirteen cases of the Omicron variant have been detected among players and support staff of a Portuguese soccer club, reported AP. Among the infected players, only one had recently travelled to South Africa.
  6. A doctor in South Africa, who was one of the first to suspect a different strain of the coronavirus, said that symptoms of Omicron were mild and can be treated at home.
  7. A 32-year-old man who returned from South Africa to Dombivali in Thane district of Maharashtra has tested positive for the coronavirus, The Indian Express reported. But, health officials are yet to establish if the infection was due to the new Covid variant. “The passenger travelled from Cape Town to Delhi via Dubai,” Chief Medical Officer of the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation Pratibha Panpatil said. “He gave a sample in Delhi and was allowed to board the connecting flight to Mumbai. On arrival in Mumbai, he was found to be positive.” Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said tracking international passengers who do not land directly in Mumbai but travel to the state via other means is difficult, reported PTI.
  8. Scotland has detected six cases of the new Omicron variant. With this, the United Kingdom now has nine cases of the new strain. Some of the six people identified in Scotland have no travel history. “So what that tells us is that there must be a degree of community transmission of this particular strain of the virus,” Scotland Deputy First Minister John Swinney told BBC.
  9. Botswana also announced that authorities had detected 19 cases of the new Covid variant, including the four infections declared last week by the southern African country, AFP reported.
  10. Thirteen people tested positive for Omicron variant after they arrived in the Dutch capital Amsterdam on two flights from South Africa, the BBC reported.