Omicron variant: 9 more Omicron cases detected, 4 each in Maharashtra, Kerala; 1st case reported in Tamil Nadu

Eight new cases of the Omicron variant were reported from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region on Tuesday, taking the count of cases linked to the variant to 28. Seven of the cases were from Mumbai and one from the Vasai Virar corporation. The Mumbai cases were contacts of a positive person who had returned from London and subsequently tested positive for Covid. State health authorities said that out of the 8 patients, three were women and five men. All infected are in the age group of 24 years to 41 years.

The cumulative number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 134.53 crore on Tuesday, the Union Health Ministry said. More than 62,17,862 vaccine doses have been administered till 7 pm. The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late night, the ministry said.

Britain will remove all 11 countries from its Covid-19 travel red list from Wednesday, health secretary Sajid Javid told parliament. "Now that there is community transmission of Omicron in the UK and Omicron has spread so widely across the world, the travel red list is now less effective in slowing the incursion of Omicron from abroad," he said.

Normalisation of international flight services will depend on the Omicron scenario and authorities concerned will watch the situation as it unfolds, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Tuesday. On November 26, aviation regulator DGCA decided to restart scheduled commercial international flights to and from India from December 15. However, the decision was put on hold in less than a week in the wake of the emergence of Omicron, the new Covid variant. Last week, the watchdog said the flights will remain suspended till January 31.