BENGALURU: The official of the health ministry of India confirmed on Thursday that two cases of the new Omicron coronavirus variant in the southern state of Karnataka, Inida were detected.
The joint secretary of the health ministry told in a news briefing, ” All primary and secondary contacts of both the cases have been traced and are being tested.”
India was to restart scheduled commercial international flights on December 15, but on Wednesday it shattered the plan and said a resumption date would be announced in due course.
The government has advised states to ramp up testing, a week after the health ministry said a recent fall in testing could undermine India’s efforts to contain the pandemic.
After battling a record jump in infections and deaths in April and May, coronavirus cases have come down substantially in India, where the Delta variant is the dominant strain.
In India 9,765 new cases were reported on Thursday, taking its total to 34.61 million. The only country, the United States is ahead of this figure.
