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Omicron is gradually spreading in the community and the new, rapidly spreading variant of concern has been found in 46 percent of the latest samples analyzed in the national capital, Delhi's health minister Satyendar Jain said Thursday.
He said strict measures have been taken as part of the Graded Response Action Plan for COVID-19 to contain the spread of the infection and that the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) will decide whether to introduce more restrictions.
"The latest genome sequencing report showed that 46 percent of the samples contained Omicron. These people include those who have no travel history. It means Omicron is now in Delhi," Jain said.
"Indeed, the variant is gradually spreading in the community and its share will increase in the coming days," the minister said when asked if Omicron will be the dominant variant in a possible third wave of the pandemic.
He also said that of the 200 coronavirus cases in hospitals in Delhi, only 102 belong to the city. There are also 115 people who have been taken directly to hospitals from the airport.
Delhi's health minister had said on Wednesday that many international travelers who tested negative at the airport were found to be Covid positive after a few days. During this time, they infect their relatives, he said.
“Delhi has imposed strict restrictions on gatherings, including weddings and funerals. Schools, gyms and spas will be closed, shops and malls will open every other day, and subways and buses will run at 50 percent capacity… It's better to be careful," said Jain.
"A decision on more restrictions will be made at a DDMA meeting," he added.
He said countries like the US and France have recorded their highest number of daily Covid cases amid the spread of Omicron "but the good news is it doesn't cause a serious infection and a very low number of patients require hospitalization".
After the 'yellow warning', further restrictions are imposed in advanced stages of 'orange', 'orange' and 'red' with a higher number of new cases and hospitalizations.
According to official figures, of the 8,965 Covid special beds in Delhi, 262 or 2.92 percent were occupied and 97 percent empty as of Dec. 28.
