Omicron variant
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Union Health Ministry on Thursday said 2 cases of Omicron variant have been detected in the country.

Both cases have been identified in Karnataka, according to the Joint Secretary of the Union Home Ministry, Lav Agarwal.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan reviewed the status and progress of the ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ campaign with the health secretaries and National Health Mission (NHM) directors of the states and Union territories through a video conference on Thursday.

During the video conference, Health Secretary Bhushan advised 7 states to identify the districts with a high number of first dose left out for the introduction of ZyCoV-D, a statement issued by the Health Ministry said.

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According to the government, the Omicron variant has been detected in 2 male foreign returnees in Karnataka.

The government said contact tracing of the Karnataka Omicron patients has been done.

So far, a total of 24 countries including India have reported Omicron cases.

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Here’s a list of the countries that have reported Omicron cases so far:

1. Botswana – 19 cases

2. South Africa – 77 cases

3. Nigeria – Three cases

4. United Kingdom – 22 cases

5. South Korea – Five cases

6. Australia – Seven cases

7. Austria – One case

8. Belgium – One case

9. Brazil – Three cases

10. Czech Republic – One case

11. France – One case

12. Germany – Nine cases

13. Hong Kong – Four cases

14. Israel – Four cases

15. Italy – Nine cases

16. Japan – Two cases

17. Netherlands – 16 cases

18. Norway – Two cases

19. Spain – Two cases

20. Portugal – 13 cases

21. Sweden – Three cases

22. Canada – Six cases

23. Denmark – Four cases

24. India – Two cases

India has reported 9,765 new daily Covid19 cases and 477 deaths in the last 24 hours.