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.
Referring to alleged reports of snooping of prominent citizens using Israeli Pegasus spyware, senior BJP leader and union minister Meenakshi Lekhi on Thursday said that these kinds of stories are concocted, fabricated and have no evidence.
On Wednesday, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal gave permission to the Jantar Mantar demonstration on the condition that a maximum of 200 protesters will be allowed till August 9 between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Sidhu sent an invite, signed by some 62 legislators, through working presidents, Kuljit Singh Nagra and Sangat Singh Gilzian, to the 'sulking' Chief Minister to attend the swearing-in ceremony.
In a statement here, Badal said it was condemnable that the NDA government had targeted Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar and the Bharat Samachar group because they had posed tough questions to the government in keeping with high standards of journalism.
In a written reply to parliamentarian Binoy Viswam in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State (External Affairs) V.A. Muraleedharan said during the unprecedented crisis, the international community came forward with offers of solidarity and assistance for specific medicines and equipment that were not immediately available in the country.
With the Pegasus snoopgate leading to ruckus in the Parliament, Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday that the news story on snooping was an attempt to malign India's democracy and its institutions.
