Omicron: Delhi health minister says people with no travel history have been infected

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Thursday warned that people with no travel history have been found to be infected by the Omicron strain of coronavirus in the Capital, PTI reported.

At a press briefing, Jain said that 46% of the 115 coronavirus positive samples that were sent for genome sequencing in Delhi showed that the infection was caused by the Omicron variant. The minister said that these samples belonged to people with travel history and those without as well.

Meanwhile, 25 new Omicron cases were detected in Delhi in the last 24 hours, taking the city’s tally to 263 – the highest among all states, the central government’s data showed on Thursday morning. This includes international travellers who landed in Delhi.

Coronavirus cases have risen sharply in Delhi over the last few days. On Wednesday, the city reported 923 new cases – an 86% jump from Tuesday’s count of 496 infections.

However, on Thursday, Jain told reporters that the severity of the new cases was less than what was observed during the massive second wave of the pandemic. Jain pointed out that even as Delhi recorded 923 cases on Wednesday, no Covid patients died due to the disease in the past 24 hours.

He also said that out of 200 coronavirus patients in Delhi who have been hospitalised, 115 of them do not have any symptoms and have been admitted only as a precautionary measure.

On Tuesday, the Delhi government announced a yellow alert after the positivity rate remained above 0.5% for two straight days.

Under the new set of restrictions that came into effect in the Capital on Tuesday, schools, colleges, cinema halls, banquet halls and gyms will remain shut. Shops and malls dealing with non-essential goods and services will be allowed to open according to the odd-even formula, based on their registration numbers between 10 am to 8 pm.