Third wave plateauing in some areas, says Centre

Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan were recording a high number of Covid cases

Amid a falling Covid-19 count, the Union Health Ministry on Thursday said there are early indications of the third Covid wave plateauing in certain geographies and maintained that more than 90 per cent of active cases are in home isolation indicating mild or moderate disease.

The ministry also observed that 75 per cent of the samples sequenced in January were of the Omicron variant that drove away the more virulent Delta from all states barring Odisha, Maharashtra and West Bengal, but cautioned the unvaccinated or people with comorbidities to watch out as majority of Covid-19 deaths and serious diseases during the third wave occurred in such populations.

“There are early indications of a plateau (in the Covid-19 curve) limited to certain geographies. There are areas where the case positivity is going down,” Lav Agarwal, joint secretary in the Union Health Ministry said, without disclosing the sites.

Read more: While Omicron loosens hold, the pandemic has not ended

The maximum number of daily new cases during the third wave was registered on January 20 (3,47,254) following which there has been a steady decline. Asked whether India crossed its peak, Agarwal said, “The overall bigger picture on the peak is yet to come as there are some areas where the disease is still spreading.”

More than 400 districts have a weekly positivity of over 10 per cent while 141 districts have a positivity between 5 and 10 per cent.

Four southern states are among the areas with an expanding epidemic as they recorded an increase in Covid-19 case as well as positivity on the week ending on January 27 as against the previous three weeks.

The weekly cases in Karnataka stands at 3,25,214 with a positivity rate of 22.67 per cent -- both substantially higher than corresponding figures recorded in the week ending on January 20.

A similar rise has been seen in Kerala (3,10,382 weekly cases with nearly 50 per cent positivity), Tamil Nadu (2,10,001 and 22 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (95,132 and 28.3 per cent). “Ten states contribute more than 77 per cent of the active cases,” Agarwal said.

Karnataka tops the list of states with the maximum number of active cases. Besides its southern neighbours, others in the list are Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh though the Health Ministry data indicates a decline in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal in the last one week.

On the community spread of Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, Sujit Singh, director, National Centre for Disease Control said 75 per cent of the samples genetically sequenced in January turned out to be Omicron. There are 9,672 Omicron samples as against 4,779 Delta and AY samples (1,578 Delta).

In comparison, there were 1,292 Omicron cases in December as against 17,272 Delta and AY cases. “Delta is still not out fully as the variant is still being seen in three states,” he said.

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