Some relief as all Omicron cases in India have 'mild' symptoms so far

India has reported 25 cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, but none of the patients has reported severe symptoms, Union Health Ministry's Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said on Friday, amid global alarm over the new strain of the coronavirus.

The Joint Secretary said the symptoms in all detected Covid-19 Omicron variant cases are "mild" and account for 0.04 per cent of the total coronavirus variants detected. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Union Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal[/caption] Also read | Farmers call off 15-month-long protest, to start vacating Delhi borders While addressing a health briefing, Lav Agarwal said, "Overall 25 Omicron cases in the country so far. All detected cases have mild symptoms. Less than 0.04 per cent of total variants detected." Pressing on the need to strictly follow the Covid-appropriate behaviour (CAB), Agarwal said, "The WHO has highlighted that public health measures should be abided by on a continual, besides vaccination. Adequate precautions have to be followed...Laxity in public health measures is leading to a surge in cases in Europe." [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="650"] Talking about overall Covid-19 cases in India, the official said the overall positivity rate was at 0.73 per cent in the last week.[/caption] Further, he said only two countries had reported Omicron cases till November 24, which has now risen to 59 countries. "These 59 countries have reported 2,936 Omicron cases. Besides this, 78,054 probable cases were detected- their genome sequencing is underway," Agarwal said. Also read | CDS General Bipin Rawat laid to rest with full military honours, 17-gun salute Talking about overall Covid-19 cases in India, Agarwal said the overall positivity rate was at 0.73 per cent in the last week. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] The symptoms in all detected Covid-19 Omicron variant cases are "mild" and account for 0.04 per cent of the total coronavirus variants detected.[/caption] He said less than 10,000 cases had been reported in India in the last 14 days; of which the active cases were highest in two states — Kerala and Maharashtra with over 43 per cent active cases in the former and over 10 per cent in the latter. -PTC News