Here are the latest updates on the new coronavirus variant:

  1. Maharashtra detected eight new cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 with seven infections reported from Mumbai, reported NDTV. One case was reported from Vasai Virar located on the outskirts of the city. With this, the state’s tally stood at 28 and India’s at 57. Earlier in the day, Rajasthan and Delhi had detected four new cases of the variant each.
  2. The World Health Organization on Tuesday said the Omicron variant was spreading at an unprecedented rate, reported ANI. “Seventy-seven countries have now reported cases of Omicron, and the reality is that Omicron is probably in most countries, even if it hasn’t been detected yet,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Omicron is spreading at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant.”
  3. In view of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, the Ministry of Civil Aviation on Tuesday made it mandatory for travellers coming from “at-risk” countries to pre-book their RT-PCR tests, which will be conducted when they arrive, reported The Indian Express. The rule will be effective from December 20 in phases. In the first phase, the rules will be applicable for international travellers at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad airports.
  4. The Andhra Pradesh government health director said that the international passenger, who had arrived from Ireland and tested positive for the variant on December 11, has tested negative for Covid-19 after 14 days, reported ANI. The traveller is now under home quarantine and all his contacts have also tested negative for the virus.
  5. China has detected its second case of the Omicron variant, reported AP. The variant was found in a 67-year-old man who had tested positive after more than two weeks of quarantine.
  6. World Health Organisation’s Africa Director Matshidiso Moeti said that she was “cautiously optimistic” about the situation in the region despite a 83% increase in Covid-19 cases in the last one week, reported PTI. Moeti said that only 300 deaths have been reported in the first three weeks of the current wave in the region and that it was about half the number in the previous wave. She added that mild illnesses may be linked to the Omicron variant.
  7. The Bengaluru police arrested four people for helping a South African national get a fake negative Covid-19 certificate and fly out of India, The Indian Express reported on Tuesday. The man, who arrived in the city on November 20, was supposed to be in quarantine for two weeks. However, he left for South Africa on November 27 after producing a negative certificate. On December 2, he tested positive for the Omicron variant.
  8. Britons lined up outside vaccination centres on Monday after the government urged them to get booster shots of the Covid-19 vaccine, AP reported. The United Kingdom had reported its first death due to the Omicron variant on Monday.
  9. Norway imposed restrictions on bars, restaurants and swimming pools amid a surge in cases, AFP reported. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store cautioned citizens that the Delta and Omicron variants would lead to a “total saturation of the health system”.
  10. In Ireland, the Omicron variant accounts for 11% of new coronavirus cases, Reuters reported, quoting the country’s Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan.