The country that is the second-worst affected by the pandemic recently decided to resume international passenger flights from high-risk countries while implementing stricter border screening measures. Following the World Health Organization's declaration of the new variant as concerning, Prime Minister Modi emphasized the importance of monitoring all international arrivals, testing them according to guidelines, and focusing on high-risk countries. The Omicron variant, first identified in South Africa, is believed to spread more rapidly than other variants. India has seen a decrease in new cases due to increased vaccinations and antibodies from previous infections, with daily cases dropping by half since September. It was announced that there were 8,318 new cases reported in the past day. The emergence of a new variant, which has a spike protein that varies greatly from the original coronavirus strain that current vaccines target, has caused concern worldwide and led to anxiety in financial markets. Modi emphasized the importance of increased caution and adherence to safety measures such as mask-wearing and social distancing. He stressed the need to take preemptive action in response to the new variant and instructed for ongoing intensive containment and surveillance in areas with higher case numbers, as well as providing technical assistance to states experiencing a surge in cases. Modi instructed officials to speed up the administration of second vaccine doses.