LIVE: India Reported 6,650 New Cases On Friday, 358 Omicron Cases So Far

New Delhi:

India reported 6,650 fresh coronavirus infections and 374 deaths on Friday, said the health ministry. This pushed the national tally to 3,47,72,626 and death count to 4,79,133. The active cases stand at 77,516. The cases of Omicron, the new variant, in India has increased to 358..

With 88 cases, Maharashtra has reported the highest incidence of the new strain. It is followed by Delhi with 64 cases, Telangana with 24, Rajasthan 21, Karnataka 19, Kerala 15 and Gujarat 14 cases.

The Centre has said the Omicron variant is at least thrice more transmissible than the Delta and asked the states and Union Territories to “activate” war rooms, analyze even small trends and surges and take prompt containment action.

State governments have been imposing new restrictions in view of the rising Omicron cases and the Christmas and New Year celebrations.

Here are the LIVE Updates on Coronavirus cases in India:

Coronavirus News: Christmas Weekend Sees Thousands Of Flights Scrapped Over Omicron Worries

Commercial airlines around the world canceled more than 4,000 flights over the Christmas weekend, as a mounting wave of COVID-19 infections driven by the Omicron variant created greater uncertainty and misery for holiday travelers.

Airline carriers globally scrapped at least 2,314 flights on Friday, which fell on Christmas Eve and is typically a heavy day for air travel, according to a running tally on the flight-tracking website FlightAware.com. The website showed that another 1,404 Christmas Day flights were called off worldwide, along with 340 more that had been scheduled for Sunday.

Commercial air traffic within the US and into or out of the country accounted for roughly a fourth of all the canceled flights over the weekend, FlightAware data showed.