New Delhi: No case of the new Omicron variant of Coronavirus has been detected in India yet, a senior government official said on Monday.
The B.1.1.529 Covid variant or Omicron, first detected in South Africa last week, was designated by the World Health Organisation as a 'variant of concern', the health body's top category for worrying Coronavirus variants.
A senior official said no case of the new Omicron variant of Coronavirus has been detected in India yet and Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia INSACOG is closely monitoring the situation and expediting the results of genomic analysis of positive samples of international travellers.
Meanwhile, with 8,309 people testing positive for the infection in a day, India's tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 3,45,80,832, while the active cases have declined to 1,03,859, the lowest in 544 days, according to the Union Health ministry data updated on Monday.
The death toll has climbed to 4,68,790 with 236 daily fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.
The cumulative Covid vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 123 crore on Monday, the ministry added. On Monday, more than 70 lakh (70,85,126) vaccine doses have been administered till 7 pm.
Amid the mounting concerns over the potentially more contagious variant Omicron spreading to many countries, the Centre on Sunday introduced stricter guidelines for people travelling from or transiting through 'at-risk' countries and issued a slew of directions to the states for ramping up testing-surveillance measures and health facilities.
It also decided to review the resumption of international flights. Every international passenger coming to India has to fill a self-declaration form and show a negative RT-PCR test report. They can't enter India if any of these two conditions are not fulfilled.
Those coming from "at-risk" nations like South Africa have to give samples for RT-PCR testing after reaching India. Anyone found positive will be quarantined and the sample will be sent for genome sequencing — a method that checks the make-up of an organism. If the person is infected with the 'Omicron' strain, stricter isolation rules would apply.
Nations around the world, on the other hand, sought Monday to keep the new variant at bay with travel bans and further restrictions, even as it remains unclear what it means for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Japan announced it would suspend entry of all foreign visitors, while new cases of the variant identified days ago by researchers in South Africa appeared as far apart as Hong Kong, Australia and Portugal.
Portuguese authorities were investigating whether some of the infections there could be among the first reported cases of local transmission of the variant outside of southern Africa.
The stream of new cases showed the near impossibility of keeping the genie in the bottle in a globalised world of travel and open borders.
While the initial global response to COVID-19 was criticised as slow and haphazard, the reaction to the new variant came quickly.
This time the world showed it is learning, said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, singling out South African President Cyril Ramaphosa for praise.
South Africa's analytic work and transparency and sharing its results was indispensable in allowing a swift global response. It no doubt saved many lives, she said.
The World Health Organisation on Monday pushed for an international accord to help prevent and fight future pandemics amid the emergence of a worrying new omicron COVID-19 variant.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also said many uncertainties remain about just how transmissible and severe infection by the highly mutated omicron might be.
The WHO has also praised South Africa and Botswana for quickly alerting the world to the presence of the new variant and many have warned they should not be punished for their speed, especially since it may never be known when or where the new version first cropped up.
But that did not hold von der Leyen back from pushing the 27-nation European Union toward imposing an immediate ban on flights from seven southern African nations similar to measures many countries have taken.
Cases had already been reported in Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands, before Portuguese authorities identified 13 cases of Omicron among team members of the Belenenses professional soccer club.
Quarantining also became an issue when Dutch military police had to arrest a husband and wife who left a hotel where they were being held after testing positive and boarded a plane bound for Spain.
Taking no chances, Japan, which has yet to detect any Omicron cases, reimposed border controls that it eased earlier this month for short-term business visitors, foreign students and workers.
Israel decided to bar entry to foreigners, and Morocco said it would suspend all incoming flights for two weeks starting Monday.
Despite the global worry, scientists cautioned that it's still unclear whether Omicron is more alarming than other versions of a virus that has killed more than 5 million people. And in some parts of the world, authorities were moving in the opposite direction.
In Malaysia, officials went ahead with the partial reopening of a bridge connecting it to the city-state of Singapore.
And New Zealand announced it will continue plans to reopen internally after months of shutdown, though it is also restricting travel from nine southern African nations.
The US is banning travel from South Africa and seven other southern African countries starting Monday.
It's going to give us a period of time to enhance our preparedness, the United States' top infectious diseases expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, said of the ban on ABC's This Week.