India's Omicron tally hits 6,000 mark

New Delhi, Jan 15: In the wake of rising concerns over the new Covid-19 variant Omicron cases, a total of 6,041 cases of Omicron variant cases have been detected across 28 states and Union Territories so far, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Saturday.

Africa's fourth pandemic wave, driven primarily by the Omicron variant, is flattening after a six-week surge, the WHO has said even as it stressed that the shortest-lived surge to date in the continent was 'steep and brief but no less destabilising.'

The new Omicron variant was first reported to the WHO from South Africa on November 24. The World Health Organisation (WHO) on November 26 declared it as a variant of concern.

After a six-week surge, Africa's fourth pandemic wave-driven primarily by the Omicron variant is flattening, marking the shortest-lived surge to date in the continent where cumulative cases have now exceeded 10 million.