Coronavirus Omicron variant India live updates: At 678, India sees 3rd wave’s highest daily toll

The number of active coronavirus cases in the national capital has registered a fall of over 60 per cent in the last one week, even as DDMA authorities are slated to meet on Friday to discuss further relaxations in COVID-19 curbs in view of improving situation. While daily cases count, positivity rate, and several other metrics have shown a downtrend in the past several days, the number of deaths reported here due to Covid, has not abated much in the last few weeks.

The third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic has sequentially dampened India's service sector growth in January 2022.Accordingly, the seasonally adjusted India Services Business Activity Index came in at 51.5 (index reading) for January.However, it was lower than 55.5 (index reading) in December. The PMI ranges between 0 and 100, with a reading of above 50 indicating an overall increase compared to the previous month.

Holidaymakers were dealt another blow as France has banned travellers from entering if they were double-jabbed against Covid-19 nine months ago or more, the Daily Mail reported.Without a recent jab, France will effectively treat travellers as though unvaccinated and can only enter with a "compelling reason".

A day after testing positive for COVID-19, the manager of India's Winter Olympics contingent, Mohammad Abbas Wani, has returned negative results in two retests conducted in the last 24 hours, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) said on Thursday.Wani was found COVID-19 positive upon his arrival at the Beijing Airport here on Wednesday. IOA president Narinder Batra said the official has now returned negative in the last two tests.

The COVID-19 death toll in Ladakh climbed to 226 on Thursday following one more fatality in Leh, while 214 fresh cases pushed the infection tally to 26,400, officials said.The number of active cases in Ladakh stands at 1,140 which includes 698 cases in Leh district and 442 cases in Kargil, they said.

Symptoms of Covid-19 infection appear in 42 hours after being exposed to SARS-CoV-2 virus, much earlier than previously thought, finds a study.According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Covid symptoms take around five to six days to appear after infection.