Insight Bureau: India is in the midst of a Covid third wave, officials have said, as the spread of Omicron has led to a doubling of cases in recent days and curfews being imposed on cities across the country.
India reported 58,097 fresh COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, 55 per cent higher than yesterday’s 37,379 cases. This is twice the number seen only four days ago.
“India is clearly in the third wave of Covid-19, and the whole thing seems driven by Omicron,” said Dr N K Arora, chairman of the Covid-19 working group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, who cited the “galloping increase” of cases seen over the past week as evidence.
Delhi is likely to report as many as 10,000 Covid-19 infections on Wednesday, said city health minister Satyendar Jain, adding that the national capital’s daily positivity rate will inch closer to 10 per cent. “The third wave of Covid-19 has set in in India while Delhi is going through 5th wave,” he said.
Delhi has imposed the weekend curfew and work from home for government offices to arrest the sudden spurt in Covid cases. Under the restrictions, private offices can only function at 50 per cent capacity. Buses and the Delhi metro will operate at full capacity in order to avoid long queues and crowding.
Amid a sudden rise in Covid-19 cases in Mumbai and elsewhere in Maharashtra, the state administration is planning to make the restrictions stricter. Though a complete lockdown is not on the cards, the state may enforce a mini-lockdown, as per senior officials in the administration. So far, over 13 ministers and over 70 MLAs have tested positive for Covid within five days in Maharashtra.
Alarmed over the fast rise in Omicron cases in the State, Odisha Government on Monday asked the expert committee of the health department to decide the line of treatment for the new Covid variant. 1216 new covid cases have recorded in the state today.
West Bengal is in the throes of a third wave of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which may last well into February, with a peak sometime in the second week of this month, health experts predict.
Whereas in Bihar, Deputy CM Renu Devi and State Minister Sunil Kumar diagnosed with COVID-19 recently.
The explosion in covid cases and with the arrival of 3rd wave, the current situation in the country indicates to a alarming situation.
