By Online Desk
CHENNAI: India on Saturday recorded 22,775 new Covid-19 cases and 406 deaths, up from Friday’s 220, in the last 24 hours. Mumbai reported 6,347 cases, Delhi, 2,716, and Kolkata, 810.
Maharashtra has recorded the highest number of Omicron variant cases with 454, followed by Delhi with 351 cases, Tamil Nadu with 118 cases, Gujarat with, 115 and Kerala, 109.
According to the latest data available, Maharashtra leads in fatalities with 1.42 lakh people succumbing to the virus which was followed by Kerala with 47,794 deaths.
A report quoting Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said that as many as 10 ministers and over 20 MLAs have tested positive for COVID-19 in Maharashtra.
According to a report, Maharashtra’s additional chief secretary (health) Dr Pradeep Vyas has recently predicted that Maharashtra may report a total of two lakh active COVID-19 cases by the third week of January. “Based on the current trend of rising Covid cases in the state, it is expected that we will have about two lakh active cases by the third week of January 2022,” he told ANI.
Dr Vyas said the narrative that Omicron is mild and not fatal might be misleading. “It’s equally fatal for those who are not vaccinated and have comorbidities,” he said.
IIT-Kanpur professor Manindra Agrawal, according to The Hindustan Times, has said the peak will be in early March with around 1.8 lakh cases per day. One in 10 cases will require hospitalisation, he said. Another IIT-Kanpur study Statistical Forecasting : Third Wave of COVID-19-With an Application to India said India’s third wave of Covid-19 was about to start around mid-December, 2021 and the peak will be at the beginning of February 2022, the report noted.
Meanwhile, the Centre has advised all states and Union territories to initiate the process of setting up makeshift hospitals and to constitute special teams to monitor patients in home isolation in the wake of a surge in cases.