India’s Omicron tally rises to 26, Centre says it is monitoring over 70 Covid clusters

India on Friday said it has been monitoring over 70 clusters of Covid-19 in India and has found that most cases belong to the Delta variant or sub-lineages of the coronavirus.

The country’s tally of the Omicron variant reached 26 after three more cases were reported from Mumbai’s Dharavi area and Gujarat’s Jamnagar district on Friday.

Two cases emerged in Gujarat after a patient, who had travelled from Zimbabwe to India tested positive on December 4, reported India Today. The other patient was a contact of the traveller.

The third case was reported after a 49-year-old resident of Mumbai came to India from Tanzania. The patient is asymptomatic and is at the Seven Hills Hospital in the city, Additional Commissioner Kiran Dighavkar told Scroll.in.

At Friday’s media briefing on India’s Covid-19 situation, Paul said that there has been a decline in the use of masks to protect against the virus.

“From the point of view of protection capability, we are now operating at a risky and unacceptable level,” Paul said. “The science community is still issuing warnings..WHO [World Health Organization] is also warning that this is not the time to not wear masks. We have to remember that both vaccines and masks are important.”

Union Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal also…

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