Here are the latest updates about the new coronavirus variant:

  1. The use of masks is declining in India and the country is at a risky and unacceptable level in terms of protection capability, the chief of the country’s Covid-19 task force, VK Paul, warned at a press conference, ANI reported. “We have to remember that both vaccines and masks are important.”
  2. The National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid and the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization has been deliberating about evidence relating to booster doses, Union Minister of State for Health Bharati Pawar told the Lok Sabha on Friday.
  3. India’s number of cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus increased to 26 on Friday, after a man from Mumbai’s Dharavi area tested positive for it. The 49-year-old man had returned from Tanzania on December 4. He has not been vaccinated.
  4. Rajasthan Health Minister Parsadi Lal Meena said that all the nine people in the state who were found infected with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus disease have been discharged from the hospital after they tested negative for the infection twice, reported PTI.    
  5. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said that out of seven cases of the Omicron variant in Pune, five patients had tested negative and two were in a stable condition, ANI reported. Pawar added that those who arrived in the state from foreign countries were being tracked and officials had been monitoring their health.
  6. Singapore Airlines said Singapore has been taken off the “at-risk” countries for international travel to India, reported PTI. Countries currently in the “at-risk” list include the United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China, Ghana, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Hong Kong, Tanzania and Israel.
  7. The United States’ Food and Drug Administration gave emergency use authorisation for 16- and 17-year-old children to get a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine made by Pfizer, reported AP. They can take the booster shot if after six months of getting their last jab.
  8. Singapore’s health ministry said that two residents may have been infected with the Omicron variant, reported Bloomberg. The ministry said a 24-year-old female airport passenger-service worker and a person returning from Germany have tested positive for the infection even after receiving a booster shot. 
  9. The European Medicines Agency said that Omicron cases so far have appeared to be “mostly mild” but also cautioned that it was investigating whether the variant could cause severe disease, reported AFP.
  10. Amid concerns about the Omicron variant, the Calcutta University has decided to conduct the examinations of the first, third and fifth semesters of the undergraduate and postgraduate levels in online mode in January and February, reported PTI.