Covid-19 cases quadruple in 5 days, spark third wave concerns

The daily Covid-19 count has almost quadrupled over the past five days — even as Omicron cases increased almost threefold in the same period — sparking concerns over the third wave of infections.

On Friday, India recorded 22,775 new Covid-19 cases, up from 16,764 new cases on Thursday, 13,154 on Wednesday, 9,195 on Tuesday and just 6,358 on Monday, as per the figures provided by the union health ministry on Saturday.

Similarly, the number of Omicron cases has shot up from 653 on Monday to 1,431 on Friday.

The tally of Omicron cases is increasing at a rapid rate, since the first case of the infection was reported in India on December 2. While it took nearly 15 days for the case tally to reach 100, it has been increasing faster thereon, crossing the 200-mark on December 21 and crossing the 500-mark on December 27.

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Even as several states have imposed night curfews and stringent Covid-19 curbs, increased travel and social meetings over the Christmas-New Year period may show their effects in January-end.

WHO's chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan warned that the surge led by the Omicron Covid-19 variant is "going to be very fast and many are going to be sick".

Swaminathan said that the outbreak of the new variant will see the burden shift from hospitals to the out-patients department, from ICUs to home-based care, adding that the biggest challenge India will face will be the sudden need for medical care.

Meanwhile, India’s active Covid-19 caseload is also increasing. Over the past five days, the active load has increased by almost 40 per cent as the number shot up from 75,456 on Tuesday to 104,781 on Friday.

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