COVID-19: India reports 13,154 new cases in last 24 hours; Omicron tally rises to 961

In the previous 24 hours, India has reported 13,154 new COVID-19 cases; the Omicron case count has risen to 961, with 263 instances in Delhi and 252 in Maharashtra.

Meanwhile, Karnataka's State Health Minister, Dr K Sudhakar, announced on Wednesday that the state had detected five new instances of the Omicron variant.

One instance had travelled from the United States, another from the United States via Qatar, one from Dubai, one from Ghana via Doha, and one from Mumbai.

There are four male patients and one female patient among the five. 

A 22-year-old woman from Davanagere, who had travelled from the United States, a 24-year-old man from Bengaluru, who had travelled from the United States via Qatar, a 53-year-old man from Tamil Nadu who arrived at KIAL via Dubai, and a 61-year-old man from Bengaluru, who had travelled from Ghana via Doha, were among those who tested positive for Omicron, according to the Health Minister. 

Despite fears that the Omicron and Delta forms of COVID-19 are causing a "tsunami" of infections, the President of the World Health Organization (WHO) remains optimistic that the worst of the epidemic will be gone by 2022. 

(With inputs from agencies)