People with no travel history infected with Omicron, means it's spreading in community: Satyendar Jain

Omicron is gradually spreading in the community and the new, fast-spreading variant of concern accounted for 46 percent of the 115 Covid samples analysed in the national capital so far, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Thursday.

He said stringent curbs have been put in place as part of the Graded Response Action Plan for COVID-19 to check the spread of the infection and the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) will decide on implementing more restrictions.

“There are 200 coronavirus patients in Delhi hospitals. Genome sequencing of the samples of 115 patients showed 46 percent had Omicron. These people include those who do not have any travel history. It means Omicron is now inside Delhi,” Jain said.

“Indeed, the variant is gradually spreading in the community,” the minister said.

He also said of the 200 coronavirus cases in Delhi hospitals, only 102 belong to the city.

Of the hospitalised Covid patients in Delhi, 115 do not have any symptoms and have been kept in hospitals as a precautionary measure, Jain said.

The Delhi health minister had on Wednesday said many international travellers who tested negative at the airport are found to be Covid positive after a few days.

During this period, they are infecting their family members, he said.

The DDMA had on Wednesday decided that Covid-related restrictions imposed in Delhi under the ‘yellow alert’ will continue for the time being and authorities will monitor the situation for a while before deciding on fresh curbs.

On Wednesday, It had declared a ‘yellow alert’ under the Graded Response Action Plan in the city amid a spike in coronavirus cases following the emergence of the Omicron variant.

The ‘yellow alert’ entails restrictions like night curfew, closure of schools and colleges, opening of shops selling non-essential items on an odd-even basis and halved seating capacity in Metro trains and buses, among other things.