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As the nation continues to report a Covid surge with 16,764 new cases in the last 24 hours, and an active caseload of 91,361, AIIMS chief Randeep Guleria told The Indian Express that the highly infectious Omicron variant mainly affects the upper respiratory tract and airways, rather than the lungs — and those without comorbidities should not panic and start blocking hospital beds.

The focus, Guleria said, should be on effective home isolation since recovery time for the latest variant is much faster.

“Omicron is affecting the upper respiratory tract and more of the airways, rather than the lungs. That is why we see very fewer patients with a drop in oxygen saturation or the other severe symptoms we saw in Delta. What we are seeing here is more of fever, running nose, sore throat, and a lot of body ache and headache. If any of these symptoms persist, they should come forward and get themselves tested. Because then they can isolate themselves and prevent the infection from spreading to other people in the community,” he said.

Flagging a sudden rise in Covid cases across 14 cities, the Centre has written to states, urging them to take immediate measures to check the surge. Cases of the highly infectious Omicron are also increasing rapidly in and around the big cities. "Take steps now to avoid increased mortality," was the Centre's advice, sources said. The idea of taking Delhi's GRAP model across the country is also being considered, top sources said.

In the evening, the government's Covid Task Force chief VK Paul said the Centre haswritten to eight states including Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Kerala and Telangana. Fourteen districts in the country has showed a massive positivity rate – between 5 and 10 per cent -- he said.

India's tally of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 neared the 900-mark (890 to be exact) on Wednesday after several states, including Maharashtra, reported a large number of fresh infections during the day.

This comes even as the country reported a major spike of 9,195 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the overall tally to 3,48,08,886, according to the data shared by the Union ministry of health and family welfare.

Maharashtra, which did not log any fresh Omicron case on Tuesday, added as many as 85 new infections during the day, taking the state’s tally to 252. With this, it has once again become the leading contributor to India's tally of the highly transmissible strain of Covid-19. Of the 85 new cases, Mumbai accounted for 53, while the remaining were detected in Nagpur, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad and Kolhapur, among other places.

Delhi on Tuesday reported 496 Covid-19 cases, its highest single-day rise since June 4. With daily Covid cases nearing almost 500 in the national capital, the positivity rate is inching towards 1%. Meanwhile, Punjab has ordered banning entry of unvaccinated individuals in public places from January 15.

An expert panel of the country’s central drug authority has recommended granting emergency use authorisation to Serum Institute of India’s COVID-19 vaccine Covovax and Biological E’s vaccine Corbevax with certain conditions, official sources said on Monday. The Subject Expert Committee (SEC) on COVID-19 of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) on Monday also recommended granting permission to manufacture and market anti-Covid pill Molnupiravir for restricted emergency use for treatment of adult patients with SpO2 93 per cent and who have high risk of progression of the disease, including hospitalisation or death, subject to certain conditions.

Children between 15 and 18 years can register online on CoWin from January 1 or onsite at vaccination centres to receive Covaxin shots from January 3.

Among healthcare and frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities, prioritisation and sequencing would be based on completion of nine months or 39 weeks from the date of the second dose as of January 10, the government said in its guidelines issued on Monday.