There are concerns about a third wave in India due to the Omicron coronavirus variant.
On Wednesday, the country reported nearly 800 Omicron-related cases. Meanwhile, COVID-19 cases rose by 9,195 daily cases – an increase of 44 percent over the previous day.
According to government data, India’s capital New Delhi reported 238 Omicron cases. Maharashtra in the west, which was hit by a second wave of COVID-19 earlier in the year, had 167 cases.
New Delhi has banned large-scale gatherings in celebration of Christmas and New Years. Many other states have also announced new restrictions such as night curfews, vaccination requirements for restaurants and stores, and mandatory immunizations.
Satyendar Jain, Delhi’s Health Minister, stated that the number of (coronavirus-related) cases has increased since international flights arrived. “At this point, not a single Omicron patient required oxygen support.”
Rajesh Tope is the health minister for Maharashtra, which is home to India’s financial capital Mumbai. He said that it was “worrying” to see active cases increase in the state.
“Mumbai’s positivity rates are at 4 percent. He said that if this rises above 5 percent then we will need to consider imposing restrictions.” He told India’s ANI news agency.
Authorities reported an “increasing trend” in the incidence of infections in Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state. This was also the most affected by the second COVID wave. The state’s principal city, Chennai, has restricted the celebrations of New Year in public and hotels.
Up to January 7, a night curfew was in place in neighboring Karnataka. It ran from 10pm to 5am.
Despite the rains and freezing weather in New Delhi, thousands of people came to New Delhi’s markets during the holiday season. Many were without masks.
Mahesh Kumar, a cycle rickshy driver in the city’s older quarters, said that he was afraid of passengers who don’t believe in the existence.
They think it doesn’t exist. But I’m very afraid. He said that he has children and a wife. “If anything happens to me, who will care for them?”
Mohammad Saqib, a businessman, said that many people feared an increase in infections after the tragic second wave of infected persons in India earlier in the year which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.
Experts say officials are worried about another wave of travelers, which could bring in travel restrictions, expand mass screening at airports, and send out health warnings.
The COVID-19 centers that were in hiatus are now back with isolated wards available to accept patients.
However, New Year’s celebrations are just around the corner and a series of state elections in the early part of next year could help the virus advance quickly.
New Delhi announced that all COVID-19-positive cases will be sent to two government labs for sequencing. This is in addition to screening at airports for the variant.
Not all states or cities have the resources to sequence all positive cases.
Genome sequencing can be performed at 38 Indian government laboratories. It is not yet close to the ideal standard of analysing five per cent of all samples.
