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TATA Medical and Diagnostics Ltd. (TATA MD) has received an order for 5 lakh tests from Odisha State Medical Corporation Limited (OSMCL). The Government of Odisha is the first state in the country to order the TATA MD CHECK OmiSure RT-PCR tests developed in partnership with ICMR for detection of the Omicron variant of COVID. As OmiSure specifically identifies Omicron without the need for sequencing, it will help the government to combat the Omicron spread within the state.

Mr. Girish Krishnamurthy, CEO and Managing Director,TATA Medical and Diagnostics Ltd. said, “OmiSure is the only test that can specifically detect the Omicron variant at the point of testing. We would like to thank the Government of Odisha, the first state in the country that has decided to use TATA MD OmiSure for COVID testing and would provide all necessary support.”

TATA MD CHECK RT-PCR OmiSure is the only test approved by the ICMR for RT-PCR detection of the Omicron variant. It targets 3 gene with a single tube, fully multiplexed assay in a unique design that identifies simultaneous S-gene Target Failure (SGTF) and S-Gene Mutation Amplification (SGMA). Its confirmatory evaluation of RdRP target with internal controls leads to accurate diagnosis with significant reduction in the risk of false-positive reactions from contamination in control materials. OmiSure uses the standard qPCR workflow, compatible with commonly used qPCR platforms with 4+ channels.

https://rtdjournal.com/omicron-odisha-one-more-omicron-case-detected-in-odisha-total-tally-goes-to-9/

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/odisha-becomes-first-state-to-order-omicron-testing-kit-omisure-101641838532624.html

Omicron Odisha: Twenty three more new cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 had been detected in the state taking the total number of cases to 37, the Institute of Life Sciences in Bhubaneswar said on Sunday.

According to official reports,  11 of them are returnees from Finland, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Syria, 10 are local cases, and the remaining two are contacts of Finland returnees.

The state today registered a spike in Covid-19 cases, as 424 people, including 67 children below 18 years of age, tested positive for the virus during the last 24 hours. The daily Covid-19 cases were reported to be 298 on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the state government on Sunday temporarily suspended the reopening of schools for physical classes from classes 1 to 5, which was scheduled to begin from January 3.

Omicron Odisha cases

This brings the overall number of Omicron in Odisha to 37. Odisha Health Director Bijay Panigrah announced today that the state’s monitoring and immunization campaigns will be stepped up.

The minister also recommended people wear masks and wash their hands frequently. “Unnecessary travel should be avoided wherever possible. In the past, we received sufficient public backing to deal with any emergency crisis. “With everyone’s help, we can and will battle this wave,” the CM said.

“Therefore, the people should adhere to COVID-19 appropriate behaviour. We should take every possible step to stop further transmission of the virus,” he said, adding that Omicron is three times more transmissible than the Delta variant.

Omicron Odisha: Five more new cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 had been detected in the state, the Institute of Life Sciences in Bhubaneswar said on Thursday.

“Four male and one female of 22-44 years of age have tested positive for Omicron. While four persons have returned from foreign countries — Qatar, Congo and the UAE, another infected person has no international travel history. The person had recently visited Raipur and Hyderabad,” said director of health services, Bijay Mohapatra.

The health condition of all infected persons is stable, he said. Contact tracing of all these five Omicron positive persons is being carried out. So far, one Omicron positive person’s close contact has tested Covid positive and his sample has been sent for genome sequencing while contacts of another two cases have found Covid negative, Bijay Mohapatra said.

Moreover, reports of persons who came in contact with another two fresh cases are awaited, he informed.

This brings the overall number of Omicron in Odisha to fourteen. Odisha Health Director Bijay Panigrah announced today that the state’s monitoring and immunization campaigns will be stepped up.

The minister also recommended people wear masks and wash their hands frequently. “Unnecessary travel should be avoided wherever possible. In the past, we received sufficient public backing to deal with any emergency crisis. “With everyone’s help, we can and will battle this wave,” the CM said.

“Therefore, the people should adhere to COVID-19 appropriate behaviour. We should take every possible step to stop further transmission of the virus,” he said, adding that Omicron is three times more transmissible than the Delta variant.

Omicron Odisha: Odisha CM Alerts People On Omicron Variant, Rise In Its Daily COVID Caseload

https://odishatv.in/

Omicron Odisha: One More Omicron Case Detected In Odisha; Total Tally Goes To 9

Omicron Odisha Updates

Omicron Odisha:: One more new case of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 had been detected in the state, the Institute of Life Sciences in Bhubaneswar said on Wednesday.

The infected person is a resident of the Keonjhar district and had returned from Dubai on December 16.

As per the officials, he had tested positive with Coronavirus after his arrival to Odisha from Kolkata on a train. He was in isolation at his house. Then, his samples were sent for genome sequencing which confirmed he was infected with Omicron.

His parents and family members were tested for Covid-19 twice after he was tested positive. However, they were found negative both times. The health condition of the returnee is stated to be stable.

The Institute of Life Sciences in its statement said that the presence of the virus’s Omicron variant was confirmed in the one people after genome sequencing.

This brings the overall number of Omicron in Odisha to nine. Odisha Health Director Bijay Panigrah announced today that the state’s monitoring and immunization campaigns will be stepped up.

“We’ve been told to increase the daily COVID tests to 70,000,” Panigrah said. On Wednesday, it was reported that Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik urged the people of the state to adhere to COVID guidelines. “The Omicron variant of Covid-19 is causing an increase in infections. “We must remain vigilant since the new strain is rapidly spreading,” Patnaik warned.

The minister also recommended people wear masks and wash their hands frequently. “Unnecessary travel should be avoided wherever possible. In the past, we received sufficient public backing to deal with any emergency crisis. “With everyone’s help, we can and will battle this wave,” the CM said.

“Therefore, the people should adhere to COVID-19 appropriate behaviour. We should take every possible step to stop further transmission of the virus,” he said, adding that Omicron is three times more transmissible than the Delta variant.

Noting that the present situation shouldn’t be taken lightly, he said, people’s cooperation is essential to fight the danger from the Omicron. The Centre has suggested to states to formulate a strategy that can ensure the infection is contained at the local level itself before it spreads to other parts of the state.

Omicron Odisha: Odisha CM Alerts People On Omicron Variant, Rise In Its Daily COVID Caseload

https://odishatv.in/

A day after Odisha reported it’s first cases in Omicron, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday urged people to adhere strictly to the proper conduct of COVID-19 in order to overcome the new strain of coronavirus.

Patnaik via video message, said: ” Now COVID-19 new variant Omicron is spreading across the globe. Therefore, I appeal to people to remain alert and follow the norms like wearing masks, hand wash, maintaining social distancing and avoid crowd.”

Odisha on Tuesday reported two cases of Omicron diversity after tracking the genome of 12 COVID-19 patients who had recently returned from abroad.

Meanwhile, the state government on Wednesday convened a meeting of senior officials to discuss additional steps to be taken in light of the Omicron differences that have already entered Odisha. ” The meeting decided to increase surveillance and vaccination activities. The government will increase gene sequence testing, ” said Nirajan Mishra, director of public health services.

Health Services Director Bijay Mohapatra said the Central Government has written to all states and union territories advising the administrations to impose restrictions if the test positivity rate (TPR) crosses 10 per cent or occupancy of oxygen-supported ICU beds touches 40 per cent.

“Therefore, the people should adhere to COVID-19 appropriate behaviour. We should take every possible step to stop further transmission of the virus,” he said, adding that Omicron is three times more transmissible than the Delta variant.

Noting that the present situation shouldn’t be taken lightly, he said, people’s cooperation is essential to fight the danger from the Omicron. The Centre has suggested to states to formulate a strategy that can ensure infection is contained at the local level itself before it spreads to other parts of the state.

Meanwhile, Odisha recorded a slight rise in its daily COVID caseload on Wednesday as 183 more people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours pushing the tally to 10,53,349. The state had reported 146 cases on Tuesday and 186 and 193 cases on Monday and Sunday respectively.

https://rtdjournal.com/omicron-updates-it-can-change-the-course-of-covid-19-pandemic-says-who/

https://www.dtnext.in/News/National/2021/12/22155646/1335256/Patnaik-alerts-people-on-Omicron-variant-Odisha-reports-.vpf

Omicron Update: Amid growing concerns over the new Omicron variant, India’s COVID Task Force chief VK Paul has said that there is a potential scenario that “our vaccines may become ineffective in emerging situations”.

Paul also stressed the need to be ready to modify the vaccines as per requirement. He also hoped that COVID in India is possibly moving in the direction of endemicity, where there is a low or moderate level of transmission going on.

“We have experienced Delta shock and now the Omicron shock… there is a potential scenario that our vaccines may become ineffective in emerging situations in the wake of the last three weeks of living with Omicron, we have seen how such doubts have come up, some of them may be genuine, we still don’t have the final picture,” VK Paul said.

The current strategy&effective strategy is to ensure that the adult population of India is covered with the two vaccines that are in our program-Covishield & Covaxin, & now a DNA vaccine may also be added to an extent: Dr VK Paul, Member-Health, NITI Aayog, in Bhubaneswar(Odisha) pic.twitter.com/yvkeh5q8kp

— ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2021

Speaking at an event organised by industry body CII, Paul also emphasised the need for having vaccine platforms that are adaptable quickly with the changing nature of the variants.

“How soon can we create a vaccine which is using the same platform, but is now targeted to the variant of the day… we may have to think about how we go about doing it……moving from the rapid development of generic vaccine, we have to be ready to be able to have a situation where resiliently we are able to modify the vaccines as require(d). This may not happen every three months but this could happen every year perhaps. Therefore, that needs to be factored in,” Paul said.

The new COVID variant called B.1.1.529 or Omicron was first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) from South Africa on November 24.

According to Paul, drug development will not go out of fashion for the next viral epidemic/ pandemic that the world might face and that anti-microbial resistance challenge is also crying for drug solutions.

Noting that there is a need to examine how India’s classical drug industry can have a roadmap and risk-taking attitude, he said, “We are still crying for an effective drug to fight viral diseases, including COVID”.

The coronavirus pandemic has taught that viruses cannot be taken lightly, and the unpredictability in emerging scenarios of health have to be respected and addressed, Paul noted.

“Pandemic is not over, we will continue to deal with uncertainty, even though we hope that we are possibly moving in the direction of endemicity, hopefully of a mild disease, that we can tackle,” Paul said but cautioned that the situation cannot be taken for granted.

The endemic stage is when a population learns to live with a virus. It is very different from the epidemic stage when the virus overwhelms a population.

While noting that the contribution of the industry to science is low in the country, Paul said, “Our national investment in science is all public money… even during developing the vaccines, a lot of testing was done at the national laboratory”. Further, he said that 97 percent of the vaccines delivered to Indian people was with public money and very little with private money.

The foremost priority right now is to make sure that there is universal coverage of the vaccine and no one is left behind, Paul said, adding that globally, there are 3.6 billion people who are not vaccinated.

“We need 7.2 billion doses together, and with the current rate of production, it is well within our grasp… it is possible for us to deliver the vaccine,” Paul said.

https://indianexpress.com/article/india/covid-vaccine-may-become-ineffective-in-emerging-situations-vk-paul-7673760/

https://rtdjournal.com/omicron-odisha-to-revise-the-covid-19-guidelines/