PM Modi to hold Covid review meet tomorrow amid surge in Omicron cases

New Delhi, Dec 22: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday will hold a meeting with top officials regarding the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) situation in the country and to review the ongoing vaccination programme.

It comes amid concerns caused over the emergence of a new variant of coronavirus - the Omicron. The strain has already been categorised as 'variant of concern' by the World Health Organization (WHO).

As soon as the PM Modi's meeting news broke, the social media is abuzz of rumours about announcement of booster shots. Many foreign countries have opted for an additional shot to fight the highly-transmissible, highly-infectious, fast spreading Omicron coronavirus variant.

The Omicron variant of COVID-19 is expected to peak in February 2022, but it could subside in a month, experts have said.

Two scientists behind the Sutra model tracking the trajectory of COVID-19 said that a mild new wave may hit India in February.

Manindra Agrawal of IIT Kanpur and M Vidyasagar of IIT Hyderabad, co-founders of the model said that in the worst case scenario, daily new cases may be in the range of 1.5 to 2 lakhs in February. This may happen if the Omicron variant completely evades immunities acquired naturally or through vaccination, the told India Today.

Amid growing call for booster shots, India has maintained that vaccinating the adult population with both doses of the Covid vaccine will be its first priority ahead of booster doses.

Meanwhile, India has recorded 213 cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus across 15 states and UTs so far out of which 90 people have recovered or migrated.

Delhi has recorded the maximum 57 cases of the Omicron variant followed by Maharashtra at 54, Telangana 24, Karnataka 19, Rajasthan 18, Kerala 15 and Gujarat 14.

Also, India also logged 6,317 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,47,58,481, while the active cases declined to 78,190, the lowest in 575 days.

The death toll has climbed to 4,78,325 with 318 fresh fatalities, the data stated.