Two COVID-19 cases of the Omicron variant have been detected in India, the Health Ministry said on Thursday, in the first confirmation of the coronavirus strain within the country’s borders that has triggered global alarm. “There is no need to panic about the Omicron detection but awareness is absolutely essential. Early indications have suggested the heavily-mutated Omicron may be markedly more contagious than previous variants, however, there has been no evidence of the strain any deadlier. India was set to restart scheduled commercial international flights on December 15, but on Wednesday scrapped that plan and said a resumption date would be announced in due course. The government has advised states to ramp up testing, a week after the health ministry said a recent fall in testing could undermine India’s efforts to contain the pandemic.

Source: The Nation December 03, 2021 00:03 UTC