Delhi's Omicron tally touches 22; most fully vaxed & asymptomatic

New Delhi: Even as Delhi's Omicron tally rose to 22 on Friday with the daily Covid positivity rate now above the 0.1 per cent mark for the second consecutive day, the city reported 69 new Covid cases on Friday and zero deaths from the virus.

And with officials saying that most Omicron patients in the city were "fully vaccinated" and "asymptomatic, Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Friday announced that 10 of these 22 Omicron patients had now been discharged.

A senior doctor at the Lok Nayak Hospital, where a special facility has been set up for isolating and treating suspected Omicron cases, said most of the patients are fully vaccinated and asymptomatic. "Some of them have mild symptoms such as mild fever, bodyache and sore throat," he added.

The doctor also said that two Omicron patients are "contacts of those who had tested Covid positive upon arrival at the airport". LNJP's medical director Suresh Kumar said 40 people are currently admitted to the special facility at the Lok Nayak Hospital meant for isolating and treating suspected Omicron cases.

The minister on Thursday had said that many international travellers were turning out Covid positive upon arrival at the Indira Gandhi International Airport. On Tuesday, he had said that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus has not spread in the community so far and the situation is under control.

On Friday, the Capital's daily Covid positivity came down slightly to 0.12 per cent from the previous day's 0.15 per cent. According to the graded response action plan put in place by the DDMA, restrictions will tighten if the positivity rate remains above 0.5 per cent for two consecutive days.

The number of cumulative cases stood at 14,42,004, with over 14.16 lakh patients having recovered from the infection. The death toll from the pandemic stands at 25,100 in Delhi.

Two Coronavirus-linked deaths have been recorded in December so far — one each on December 6 and December 8.