Vice President Venkaiah Naidu tests positive for COVID-19

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New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday. This is the second time that Vice President was infected with COVID-19. The 72-year-old chairperson of Rajya Sabha had first recovered from COVID infection in October-2020.

"The Vice President, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, who is in Hyderabad, tested COVID positive today. He has decided to remain in self-isolation for a week. He has advised all those who came in contact with him to isolate themselves and get tested," Vice President of India tweeted.

The Vice President, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, who is in Hyderabad, tested COVID positive today. He has decided to remain in self-isolation for a week. He has advised all those who came in contact with him to isolate themselves and get tested.

— Vice President of India (@VPSecretariat) January 23, 2022

उपराष्ट्रपति ने आग्रह किया है कि विगत दिनों में जो भी लोग उनके संपर्क में आए थे, वे भी स्वयं को अलग रखें और अपनी जांच करवाएं।

— Vice President of India (@VPSecretariat) January 23, 2022

Meanwhile, government on Sunday said that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is in the community transmission stage in many cities across India, having become a dominant strain at many places.

"Omicron is now in community transmission stage in India and has become dominant in multiple metros, where new cases have been rising exponentially. BA.2 lineage is in a substantial fraction in India and S gene dropout based screening is thus likely to give high false negatives," said Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) in its weekly bulletin on Sunday.

The RT-PCR screening is now applicable to all Omicron lineages, "Tests suitable for PCR based screening applicable to all Omicron lineages have been approved for use," INSACOG said.

"While most Omicron cases so far have been asymptomatic or mild, hospitalizations and ICU cases have been increasing in the current wave. The threat level remains unchanged," it further said.