Journey of Omicron in India so far:

India detected its first Omicron case on December 2 in Karnataka and till now, the country has logged more than Six thousand cases of this virus. Before it was reported in India, Omicron cases had been found in 29 countries. As per the WHO, the first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on November 9 this year. On November 26, the WHO named the new COVID-19 variant B.1.1.529, which has been detected in South Africa, as ‘Omicron‘. The WHO has classified Omicron as a ‘variant of concern’.

Case 1: The 66-year-old man is a South African national who received both the doses of COVID-19 vaccine. He travelled to Bengaluru with a COVID negative report on November 20 but was tested positive on arrival.

Case 2: The 46-year-old man is a doctor at a government hospital in Bengaluru with no travel history. He developed fever and complained of body ache on November 22 and was tested positive on November 22. noting the low CT value, his sample was sent for genome sequencing.

Situation In India:

• Seroprevalence studies indicate that a large proportion of the population has already been exposed to the virus providing some level of protection to subsequent infections.
• Further, the immunisation campaign has gained momentum. Approximately 44% of Indian adults have been fully vaccinated and 82% have received at least one dose.
• Scientists believe that prior infection followed by one or two doses of vaccination may have a larger protective effect than two doses of the vaccination alone.