Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], December 30 (ANI): Maharashtra Minister Balasaheb Thorat has been tested positive for COVID-19.

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], December 29 (ANI): All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) Coordinator and former deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on Wednesday urged Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin to take "appropriate action" to curb the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in the state.

Chennai Dec 27 PTI The Tamil Nadu government on Monday requested the Centre to grant the state permission as a special case to announce Omicron confirmed cases rather than wait for reports from the National Institute of Virology owing to its expertise in whole genome sequencing Reiterating the demand for necessary approvals Health and Family Welfare Minister Ma Subramanian claimed that by the time the NIV confirmed the samples those testing positive in the state get discharged after treatment Practically by the time the samples get confirmed those who test positive get treated and are discharged from the hospital he said while talking to reporters here Hence the Centre should grant permission to Tamil Nadu as a special case to enable it provide daily updates on the Omicron cases he argued Elaborating Subramanian said of the 97 persons recently detected with S-gene drop in Tamil Nadu the NIV confirmed the presence of Omicron variant in 34 of whom 18 have alr already been discharged while 16 are undergoing treatment Normally results of the samples sent to the NIV for confirmation are received in about 10 days And by this time the positive patients get treated and discharged the Minister said Subramanian raised the issue of granting permission to the State-owned lab here at a meeting of the central team of experts on a visit to the city He also urged the Centre to grant permission to issue orders for compulsory seven day isolation and increased testing of international passengers from non-risk countries as many of them have been found to have s-gene drop during random testing The four-member central team which included Dr Vineeta Dr Purbasa Dr M Santhosh Kumar and Dr Dinesh Babu inspected the oxygen production unit and storage facility besides the Omicron ward at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital here the Minister said PTI JSP APR APR

Panaji Dec 27 PTI An eight-year-old boy who arrived in Goa from the United Kingdom has been found infected with Omicron making it the first case of the new coronavirus variant in the coastal state State Health Minister Vishwajit Rane told PTI on Monday that the boy who travelled from the UK on December 17 2021 was confirmed to be infected with Omicron as per his test report received from the National Institute of Virology in Pune Rane said the state government will take steps according to the central governments protocol and also adopt stringent measures as required Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has already asked the tourism stakeholders to stay alert and ensure there is no spread of COVID-19 during festivities in the wake of the upcoming New Year celebrations On Sunday Goa reported 25 new cases of coronavirus taking the states infection count to 180050 while the death toll remained constant at 3519 as per official data PTI RPS GK GK

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], December 23 (ANI): As many as 23 new cases of Omicron variant of the COVID-19 reported in Maharashtra on Thursday, said the state health department.

Mumbai Dec 17 PTI Maharashtra on Friday recorded eight new cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus which took the total of such cases in the state to 48 the health department saidAs per the report given by the National Institute of Virology today eight more patients were found to be infected with Omicron in the state an official release saidOf these six patients were from Pune one was from Mumbai and another from Kalyan-Dombivli satellite towns near Mumbai it saidAll eight new Omicron patients were male and aged between 29 to 45 years it added PTI PR KRK KRK

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], September 14 (ANI): Kerala Health Minister Veena George on Tuesday informed that the state government has decided to ease restrictions in cantonment wards in Chathamangalam as no other Nipah virus cases have been reported and the 14 days incubation period is over.

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], September 13 (ANI): Kerala Health Minster Veena George on Monday informed that 17 more samples tested to detect the presence of Nipah virus, have been found negative in the state.

The Nipah virus (NiV) is a zoonotic virus that spreads to people from animals. Here’s everything you need to know about this deadly virus—the causes, symptoms, dos, and don’ts. Another Nipah outbreak in India? A 12-year-old boy in Kozhikode lost his life due to the Nipah virus on September 5, as confirmed by the National […]

Dr. Priya Abraham of National Institute of Virology, Pune talks about the effectiveness of Covid vaccines against the highly transmissible Delta variant. Is one dose of vaccine enough to protect us? How long does protection from full vaccination last? For all this and more, watch our special interview on News Guru with @Vikram Chandra