OMISURE CHECK ON OMICRON

(The Quiver) The new variant of Corona, Omicron, is spreading rapidly. India reported 58,097 fresh COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, 55 per cent higher than yesterday’s 37,379 cases. The country reported some 9,000 cases on December 28, so the count has now gone up more than six times in just nine days. Presently, India has 2,135 cases of the Omicron variant – the most in Maharashtra with 653 cases, followed by Delhi with 464 cases. Meanwhile, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has taken a big decision. ICMR has approved the first omicron detection kit called by name Omisure. This kit will confirm the Omicron in patients with its S-Gene Target Failure (SGTF) strategy.

It has been prepared by Tata Medical and Diagnostics. According to the information received, the kit of Tata Medical already got approved by December 30.

Currently, another kit is being used to detect Omicron in the country. That kit is developed and marketed by US-based scientific instrumentation company Thermo Fisher. This kit too implements S Gene Target Failure (SGTF) strategy to detect the Omicron variant in patients.

The recovery rate from the infection is currently at 98.01 per cent. At least 15,389 people have recovered in the last 24 hours. The total number of people who have recovered is 3,43,21,803.

Active cases account for less than 1 per cent of total cases, currently at 0.61 per cent. The active caseload stands at 2,14,004.

Some 534 people have died of Covid during the period for which data for the latest Health Ministry figures was collected. This includes 432 deaths in Kerala in the last few months, added based on pending appeals after the last Supreme Court guidelines.