India’s Omicron tally reaches 200
India has at least 200 cases of the new Omicron variant till now, the health ministry said on Tuesday. Maharashtra and Delhi have the highest number of Omicron cases, at 54 each followed by Telangana(20) and Karnataka(19). The country recorded 5,326 new coronavirus cases and 453 deaths in the last 24 hours ending 8 am Tuesday. Active cases stand at 79,097 while over 8,000 people recovered on Monday.
The effectiveness of Covid vaccines available in India against the Omicron variant will be known within a week, when the results of a related study are published, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya told Parliament Monday. Besides, he said, the Government is taking all steps to tackle any surge, based on learnings from the first and second waves, including ramping up medical oxygen capacity and buffer stock of medicines.
In another development, Bharat Biotech has sought approval from Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) to conduct a phase-3 study for its intra-nasal Covid-19 vaccine as a booster dose on participants vaccinated with Covishield or Covaxin. “Bharat Biotech has put in an application seeking permission to conduct a study titled ‘A Phase 3 Study to Evaluate the Safety and Immunogenicity of BBV154 and BBV152 as third dose (booster) to participants previously vaccinated with SARS-CoV-2 vaccines’,” an official said on Monday.
Source: The Indian Express
