In recent days India has seen a massive surge in COVID-19 cases some cities almost doubling their tally overnight or reporting thousands of fresh infections.
Delhi on Sunday reported its highest single-day spike since May 20, even as the positivity rate rose to 4.59%. The recent spike in cases is being recorded amid a significant jump in cases belonging to the new Omicron variant.
Official data indicates that the numbers reported in just two days of 2022 are higher than the cumulative cases reported between August and November last year.
As per a CNN-News18 analysis of the daily COVID-19 updates, the national capital had reported a total of 4,669 cases in these three months.
Over the last seven days, Delhi's daily caseload has gone from 331 cases last Monday (December 27) to 3194 fresh cases on Sunday (January 2). 496 fresh cases were reported on Tuesday, followed by 923 on Wednesday, 1,313 on Thursday. 1,796 cases were reported on Friday, while the number rose to 2,716 on Saturday. As of yesterday evening, the national capital has 8397 active cases.
The surge is not limited to the national capital. Several other cities including Mumbai have seen their cases multiply by several thousand over the last few days.
From 108 fresh cases on December 1, Mumbai reported 809 new cases last Monday. The week ended with 8063 fresh cases on Sunday (January 2) and an active caseload of 29,819. Led by its capital city, Maharashtra on Sunday reported 11,877 fresh COVID-19 cases - 2,707 more than the day before - and 50 Omicron infections.
According an analysis of the Health Ministry data by Hindustan Times, the Omicron-led 'third wave' appears to be progressing far more rapidly than its predecessor.
Going by the seven day average of cases, such a rapid rise in India's tally had not been seen even during the Delta-led second wave. As per official data, there are now 1,22,801 active cases in the country.
While the Arvind Kejriwal-led government has implemented a 'yellow' alert under the Delhi Disaster Management Authority-approved Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), the city might soon become eligible for more stringent curbs. If a case positivity rate of 5% is reported for two consecutive days, it would trigger a 'red alert'.
Even as cases rise exponentially, however, the Delhi government has urged people to not panic, insisting that the situation was not quite as grim as the deadly second wave seen in mid-2021.
Recently, the administration had also refrained from putting the 'amber alert' in place after the positivity rate crossed the relevant marker.
"As of now, only 82 oxygen beds in hospitals are occupied. Delhi government is prepared will 37,000 beds. I just want to tell you that all new cases are with mild symptoms, asymptomatic, so there is no need to panic," Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal assured on Sunday evening.
Drawing a comparison with last year, he said that there were around 6600 active COVID-19 cases in Delhi on March 27. "145 patients were on ventilators, as compared to 5 now," he added.