Up to district administration to allow poll rallies in view of Omicron threat: Government

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 24

Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Friday said the district administrations could take a call on allowing large election rallies in a particular area. He said this in response to a question on the Allahabad High Court’s appeal to the Centre and EC to stop large rallies in view of the Omicron threat at a media briefing here on the pandemic situation.

Edit: Milder Omicron

Bhushan said the Central government had issued a standard template on the pandemic on December 21. “It contained instructions on how the positivity rate of Covid-19 infection could be tracked.”

Of the 358 Omicron positive cases detected in the country till date, 114 had recovered, he said. The analysis of 183 Omicron cases showed that 121 had a foreign travel history, while 44 had no such history but came in contact with people who had returned from abroad. There were 18 cases about whom information was not immediately available. Of the 183 cases, 90 were fully vaccinated.

Balram Bhargava, DG, ICMR, and VK Paul, Member, Health, NITI Ayog, who were also present at the briefing, said the treatment used for the Delta variant could be used for treating the Omicron positive cases as well. The Omicron variant spreads at a faster rate than others, but the Delta variant is still the predominant infection in India.