Centre warns 5 states, 1 UT amid rising Covid cases

The Central government wrote to five states - Odisha, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Mizoram, and the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir -to take necessary steps over a rapid increase in daily new Covid cases and mortality rates, and underline the danger posed by the Omicron variant.

All states have been advised to undertake enhanced surveillance of international travellers, continued monitoring of emerging hotspots, prompt and comprehensive contact tracing of positive individuals and follow up for 14 days.

Among those flagged, J&K’s Kathua district reported a staggering 727 per cent increase in new cases between November 26 and December 2, as compared to a week earlier. In the same period in Karnataka’s Tumkur district cases spiked by 152 per cent, and three Tamil Nadu districts also reported a worrying increase in new cases.

Similarly massive surges in weekly caseloads were seen in four Mizoram districts, including Saiha (237 per cent), and six Odisha districts, including Dhenkanal (667 per cent), the government noted.

Meanwhile, the National capital is on alert after a man from Tanzania tested positive for the Omicron variant of coronavirus on Sunday. This is the fifth case of Omicron in the country. While the first two cases were detected in Karnataka. Third and fourth cases were reported from Gujarat’s Jamnagar and Maharashtra’s Dombivli respectively.