India's first two Omicron cases in Karnataka, govt says no need to panic

Around 120 million beneficiaries are still due for their second dose, according to the health ministry data

Two cases of the Omicron variant of Coronavirus have been detected in Karnataka by the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium, the health ministry said on Thursday, while stressing that there was no need to panic and it was time to speed up vaccination.

The Union health ministry, on grounds of privacy, did not divulge details about the two patients such as where they were from and where they were infected.

However, the health minister of Karnataka, K Sudhakar, told reporters one of the two persons was a 66-year-old South African national who had returned to his country via Dubai, carrying a