Health

India says Omicron shows up on tests, advises states to ramp up checks

India’s union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on Tuesday that the Omicron variant does show up on RT-PCR and RAT testing, and advised the country’s states to ramp up diagnostics for early identification.

All samples that test positive for COVID-19 are to be “promptly” sent for genome sequencing, Bhushan said in a meeting with state and union territory representatives to review the variant.

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Health

WHO urges China to be ‘transparent’ in sharing COVID-19 data

The World Health Organization (WHO) continues to call for China to be ‘transparent’ in sharing COVID-19 data in efforts to determine the disease’s origins, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reiterated on Friday in Geneva.

Health

Burundi announces first polio outbreak in more than 30 years

Health authorities in Burundi on Friday said that they had detected eight samples of polio, officially declaring the landlocked African nation’s first outbreak in more than 30 years.

Health

Cocaine trafficking surges following COVID-19-related slowdown

Routed through new hubs and expanded criminal networks, cocaine trafficking has made a dramatic comeback following an initial slowdown caused by the emergence of COVID-19, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said on Thursday in a hard-hitting new report.