Omicron cases rise to 1,892 in India, Maha worst-hit
Darpan News Desk IANS, 04 Jan, 2022 12:18 PM
New Delhi, Jan 4 (IANS) With 192 new cases of highly transmissible Covid variant Omicron detected in the last 24 hours, India's Omicron tally on Tuesday rose to 1,892 cases.
With 127 Omicron infected people discharged in the last 24 hours, a total 766 people have recovered from the new strain so far.
Maharashtra and Delhi continue to be the worst-hit states with this new variant.
Among total 23 states and union territories that have reported the Omicron infection so far, Maharashtra tops the list with 568 cases of this variant. Of them, 259 patients have been discharged as per the health ministry data on Tuesday.
The national capital, Delhi has the second highest cases of Omicron infection at 382. However, 57 of them have been discharged from the hospital. Delhi is followed by Kerala with 185 Omicron cases. The Union health ministry on Tuesday morning said that the Omicron infection has so far spread into 23 states and UTs.
Among other states, Rajasthan has detected 174 Omicron infection with 88 discharged so far. Gujarat and Tamil Nadu have so far reported 152 and 121 cases of Omicron respectively.
Telangana continues with 67 Omicron patients. In Karnataka, 64 people so far have been detected with Omicron infection while the number of infection remains 63 in Haryana and 37 and 20 cases respectively in Odisha and West Bengal. Andhra Pradesh also continues with 17 Omicron patients so far.
However, the Omicron case count continues in single digit for Madhya Pradesh at nine and Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand at eight cases each. Goa has reported four more cases of Omicron taking the tally to five. Chandigarh and Jammu & Kashmir also continue with three cases each. Andaman and Nicobar Islands also continue with two cases so far. Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh, Manipur and Punjab continue with one case of this variant each so far.
A Delhi court on Thursday directed Delhi Police to file an Action Taken Report (ATR) on a petition seeking an FIR against Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar for his alleged controversial remarks against the protesting farmers.
The Uttar Pradesh government has given a six months' extension to the special investigation team (SIT) probing the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. The SIT had sought extension and the state government has given time to the SIT to complete the investigation and make arrests by May 2022.
This comes just days after the COP26 climate summit, where India pledged to cut emissions to net zero by 2070, reduce carbon emissions by one billion tonnes by 2030, and raise the share of renewables in the energy mix to 50 per cent, among others, before staging a last-minute climbdown opposing a commitment to "phase out" coal.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday appointed Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain, a former judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court, to monitor the Lakhimpur Kheri violence probe and to ensure fairness and independence in the investigation.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday junked petitions against the Punjab and Haryana High Court order, which upheld the appointment of Dinkar Gupta as Punjab Director General of Police.
Punjab has always stood against external intrusions and hence must be considered as a security case, not just as an economic case at the time of budgetary allocation, state Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal said here on Tuesday. Badal made the demand during a virtual discussion with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on stepping up investment, infrastructure and growth in the country.
