Coronavirus Live Updates: Several Covid restrictions have been imposed due to rising cases. (File)
New Delhi:
India reported 1,17,100 fresh COVID-19 cases on Friday, over 28 per cent higher than the previous day’s cases. Delhi’s daily Covid cases shot up by 15 per cent on Friday after 17,335 fresh cases were detected in 24 hours.
Several Covid restrictions have been imposed in the national capital as the surge continues. A weekend curfew from 10 pm Friday to 5 am Monday has also been put in place. Only essential services will be allowed during these hours.
Omicron is causing record numbers of cases around the world, and though it causes less severe Covid-19, experts warn this wave still threatens to overwhelm health systems. Six weeks after it was first sequenced in southern Africa Omicron cases are smashing infection records with average new daily cases at nearly two million this week, according to an AFP tally.
The World Health Organization has said that the spread of Omicron was down to a combination of factors including the make-up of the Covid-19 variant and increased social mixing.
Here are the LIVE Updates on coronavirus:
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has ordered an inquiry into the behaviour of 13 senior government officials who attended the birthday bash of a delegate to China’s legislature, where two of the 170 guests tested positive for the coronavirus.
The officials, along with 19 members of Hong Kong’s new “patriots-only” legislative council – all of whom have so far tested negative – and the other guests were sent to a quarantine facility this week as authorities scramble to contain the emergence of a new wave of cases.
Lam said in a late Friday statement she ordered “detailed” investigations “as to whether the attendance of 13 officials at the banquet constitutes any breach of discipline.”
People flying in from abroad will need to home quarantine for a week after landing in India and test on the eighth day, in new rules that take effect on Tuesday to tackle a huge Omicron-driven surge in Covid cases in the country. The number of “at-risk” countries has been increased to 19; nine more have been added since December.
All passengers have to go into home isolation for seven days and take an RT-PCR test after that. If they test positive, they will be sent to an isolation facility and their samples will be sent for genome testing.
Delhi’s daily Covid cases shot up by 15 per cent on Friday after 17,335 fresh cases were detected in 24 hours. Nine people have died in the national capital in the same period. On Wednesday, the city witnessed its biggest-ever single-day spike in nearly eight months as 10,665 cases were reported in 24 hours. Read more.
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