Warning that the Omicron variant of Covid-19 is “at least three times more transmissible” than the Delta variant, the Centre on Tuesday directed states to impose strict restrictions in districts reporting high positivity rate.

The Centre also told the states to “activate” war rooms and keep analysing trends and surges, directing that specific measures need to be taken in view of “initial signs of a surge in cases of Covid-19 as well as increased detection of the variant of concern (VOC), Omicron, in different parts of the country”.