Coronavirus Omicron in India News Highlights 26 January 2022: Andhra Pradesh reports 13618 new cases, 9 deaths today

German Covid cases hit record as parliament debates vaccine mandate

Germany on Wednesday reported a new record of 164,000 Covid-19 infections in one day as the lower house of parliament prepared to debate proposals to either require or robustly encourage residents to be vaccinated. Around 75% of the population has received at least one dose of a vaccine - less than in other western European countries such as France, Italy or Spain, where the equivalent figures are 80%, 83% and 86% - and the vaccination campaign is stuttering. The proposals being debated include requiring all adult residents to be vaccinated against Covid-19, or only those above 50, or merely requiring all those who have not been vaccinated to receive counselling.

Russia's daily Covid cases hit record high for sixth day running

Russia reported a record daily number of Covid-19 cases on Wednesday as the Omicron variant of the virus spreads, authorities said. New daily cases jumped to 74,692, up from from 67,809 a day earlier. The government coronavirus task force also reported 657 deaths in the last 24 hours

Megastar Chiranjeevi tests positive for coronavirus Read Full Story

Odisha registers 7,416 new Covid-19 cases, 10 fresh fatalities

Odisha's Covid-19 tally rose to 12,25,268 on Wednesday as 7,416 people tested positive for the infection, 1,525 or 25.9 per cent more than the previous day, a health bulletin said. Ten more patients succumbed to the infection, which is the highest daily toll in nearly five months. The state had reported 5,891 cases and seven fatalities on Tuesday. The daily test positivity rate rose to 11.37 per cent as 65,250 samples were examined in the last 24 hours, it said, adding that 867 children are among the new patients.

WHO emphasised that the Omicron variant is becoming dominant due to its significant growth advantage, higher secondary attack rate and observed reproduction number as compared to the Delta

India recorded 2,55,874 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, 16.39 per cent lower than Monday's 3.06 lakh figure. The total infection tally in India - the second worst-hit country after the US - is at almost 3.98 crore, according to Union Health Ministry data.