25 Omicron cases detected in India so far: Government

New Delhi: A total of 25 cases of new Covid variant Omicron have been detected so far in India, across five states, a top Health Ministry official said on Friday,

Addressing a press conference to brief on Omicron emergence in India, Joint Secretary, Lav Agarwal said these 25 cases have been detected in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka and Delhi, and all the patients have mild symptoms.

Noting that only two countries had reported Omicron cases till November 24, he said that now 59 countries have reported total 2,936 Omicron cases. Besides this, there are 78,054 probable cases where genome sequencing is underway to identify the variant, said Agarwal.

Indian Council of Medical Research Director General Balram Bhargava said: "Regular meetings are being organised to keep a watch on global scenario and Covid scene in India with a focus on Omicron. District level restrictions to be implemented where positivity rate is over 5 per cent."

About the Covid situation in the country, Agarwal said that the overall Covid positivity rate has been 0.73 per cent in the country with daily Covid caseload trajectory below 10,000 mark for 14 days now.

According to the ministry, two states - Kerala and Maharashtra - have highest number of active Covid cases. Kerala has over 43 per cent of active cases while Maharashtra accounts for over 10 per cent. In total, 19 districts in India have 5 to 10 per cent of positivity rate and 8 districts have over 10 per cent Covid positivity rate.

It also said that more than half of the adult population in the country is now fully vaccinated. Around 53.5 per cent of the adult population have been vaccinated with both vaccine doses.