The Union Health Ministry expressed concern over the 'sudden rise' in several cities after the daily national count ended over 13,000 patients. Out of the whole, 961 of them were confirmed for the Omicron variant. The officials said that six states, namely Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Karnataka and Gujarat, were concerned because of their rising test positivity rate and the number of weekly cases. Maharashtra and Kerala continued to account for almost half of the cases. The officials refrained from describing the massive increase as the 'third wave'.
R- Value In India
NITI Aayog member VK Paul said that India reflected the global spurt that was being led by the United States, United Kingdom, France and Spain. The Hindu quoted Paul saying, "The present R-Value (reproduction value) in India is 1.22, which means that the cases are increasing and not shrinking. The deaths are stable in India currently, which is reassuring."
However, he added that the authority believed that the increasing numbers could be a part of the global rise pushed by the Omicron variant. The active cases in Maharashtra rose to 18,217 as the state reported 5,368 infections on Thursday.
State-Wise Fresh Cases
The country witnessed 22 deaths in the last 24 hours, which raised the total number of deaths due to COVID at 1,41,518. With 198 new cases of the new variant, the Omicron tally in the country stood at 450. Kerala recorded more than 2,400 cases even as the government called for more caution and heightened curbs of the Omicron variant.
The Health Minister for the state, Veena George, has said that a large senior population and those with co-morbidities could lead to a spike in hospitalisation and deaths. l In Karnataka, there were more than 500 cases on the second consecutive day, and worryingly so, Bengaluru urban reported more than 80 per cent of the total cases.
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