"70% of Omicron Infected Were Asymptomatic" ... India Implements Night Curfew

COVID-19 testing conducted in Mumbai, India.
Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Seoyoung Kwon] About 70% of COVID-19 Omicron variant cases confirmed in India were found to be asymptomatic.

Local Indian media, including The Times of India, reported that Rajesh Bhushan, Deputy Health Minister of India, stated this at a press conference held on the 24th. Deputy Minister Bhushan explained that this result came from analyzing 183 confirmed Omicron cases in India. Among the total 183 cases, 87 were fully vaccinated individuals who had received at least two doses of the vaccine, and among them, 3 had also received a booster shot. The vaccination status of the remaining 73 individuals was not identified.

According to the announcement, based on the 110 individuals whose vaccination status was confirmed, the proportion of people infected with Omicron despite having received two or more vaccine doses was found to be 79%. The Omicron variant is known to have a much higher transmissibility compared to previous dominant COVID-19 variants such as Delta.

Additionally, Deputy Minister Bhushan added that among the subjects of this investigation, 121 had a history of overseas travel. Of the remaining 62 individuals without overseas travel history, 44 had contact with infected persons who had traveled abroad, and the remaining 18 were presumed to be cases of community transmission.

Meanwhile, after experiencing a massive COVID-19 outbreak in May, India had seen a decline in daily new cases to below 10,000, indicating a slowdown in the spread. However, with the recent rapid increase in Omicron infections, health authorities have entered a state of alert. The number of Omicron cases, which exceeded 100 on the 17th, rose to 358 the day before, prompting the government to introduce quarantine measures such as imposing nighttime curfews in some regions within India.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.