Omicron spreading among over-50s, UK minister says

NEW DELHI: Indian well being authorities Monday started vaccinating teenagers within the age group of 15 to 18, as extra states began to implement tighter restrictions to arrest a brand new surge stoked by the infectious omicron variant.
State governments throughout India administered doses at colleges, hospitals and thru particular vaccination websites amid a speedy rise in coronavirus infections, notably within the nation’s densely populated cities.
Information from the well being ministry confirmed India confirmed over 33,000 new COVID-19 instances within the final 24 hours. Deaths elevated by 123, bringing the whole to just about 482,000.
Authorities are saying that at the same time as instances have began to rise quickly, hospitalizations haven’t gone up.
“There isn’t any must panic,” Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, stated Sunday.
India has to date recorded nearly 35 million COVID-19 infections.
The present surge in instances, together with these of the omicron variant, is basically concentrated in India’s large cities like Delhi and the monetary capital Mumbai. The nation has reported greater than 1,700 omicron instances, with the very best variety of infections within the western state of Maharashtra.
Many states have imposed new restrictions, together with evening curfews, limiting seating in bars and eating places, and banning giant public gatherings. The newest to implement such restrictions was the state of West Bengal the place authorities Sunday closed all colleges and faculties.
India skilled a devastating surge of infections in April and Could final 12 months when greater than 400,000 instances had been recorded day by day on the peak of the disaster. That surge was primarily pushed by the delta variant and overwhelmed the nation’s well being care system as hospitals ran out of beds and medical oxygen.
Well being consultants say the nation is unlikely to witness such scenes this time due to a extra vaccinated inhabitants however warn the surge in instances as a result of extremely transmissible omicron variant may as soon as once more pressure the well being system.
India has to date partially vaccinated nearly 90 % of its eligible inhabitants and practically 64 % have acquired each doses. The federal government is but to determine on providing booster photographs for adults.
Well being consultants are, nonetheless, apprehensive as India’s Election Fee final week allowed legislative elections early this 12 months to go forward as deliberate in Uttar Pradesh state, the nation’s most populous with over 200 million folks, elevating fears that the infections may unfold unchecked.
In latest weeks, political leaders together with Prime Minister Narendra Modi have visited the state, main rallies and delivering speeches to packed crowds. The photographs have intensified considerations, bringing again reminiscences of the final 12 months’s surge, as political events led mass rallies as infections soared all through the nation.