Omicron spreads 3 times faster than Delta: Govt

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Amid rising concern of the Omicron threat, the Centre on Wednesday said that the new Covid variant is three times more transmissible than the Delta variant.

Union health ministry officials said that the Omicron infection tally has reached 213 across the nation, but of the total Omicron positive cases, 90 have been discharged.

So far 15 states have reported Omicron cases, said the ministry.

At 57, Delhi has the highest cases of Omicron infection followed by Maharashtra with 54 cases, the ministry said.

The Centre has asked the states to review the emerging data of Covid-19 affected population, geographical spread, hospital infrastructure and its utilisation, manpower, notifying Containment Zones and the enforcement of perimeter of containment zones at the district levels.

The Centre has also asked the states to formulate a strategy that can ensure the infection is contained at the local level itself before it spreads to other parts.

The states have been asked to ‘activate war rooms and keep analysing all trends and surges, no matter how small and keep taking proactive measures at the district or local level’.