The precautionary or third dose of COVID vaccine for healthcare/frontline workers and senior citizens with comorbidities will be the same vaccine that was administered to them previously, the Centre said on Wednesday, 5 January.

On the mixing approach of COVID vaccines for precautionary doses, Paul said that it will be discussed further as more research on the subject is underway.

Paul added that the national positivity rate, which was 1.1 percent on 30 December, currently stands at 5 percent, while the R-value stands at 2.69.

Meanwhile, ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava said that Omicron is the predominant circulating strain in the cities of the country, and mass gatherings should be avoided to lower the spread of this spread.

Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry, said that India has reported more than 6.3 times increase in cases in the last 8 days. A sharp increase has been observed in case positivity from 0.79 percent on 29 December to 5.03 percent on 5 January, he added.

Twenty-eight districts in the country are reporting more than 10 percent weekly positivity, he added.

On the Omicron related death in Rajasthan, Agarwal said that it is technically an Omicron related death. The victim was an elderly person, who reportedly had comorbidities like diabetes, among others, he said.

(This story was published from a syndicated feed. Only the headline and picture has been edited by FIT.)