Omicron spread to 100 countries in 28 days, this dominant variant in many countries; Will India bring third wave?

The government said on Friday that 358 cases of Omicron have been reported in the country and 114 of them have recovered. This figure is as of Friday morning. The positivity rate is also lower than the worldwide average. Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said in a press conference on Friday that the case positivity rate in the world is more than 6%. Case positivity in India is 5.3%. The case positivity rate in India has remained only 0.6% during the last 2 weeks.

Bhushan said that there is evidence that the treatment protocol adopted during the first wave of Kovid and the delta variant has proved effective on Omicron as well. He expressed concern about the increase in cases in Kerala and Mizoram. Said that at present there are 20 districts in the country in which the case positivity rate is between 5 to 10%. Of these, 9 are in Kerala and 8 districts are in Mizoram. Case positivity rate is more than 10% in only 2 districts in the country and both these districts are in Mizoram.

The Health Secretary said that the cases of Kovid in India are continuously decreasing. For the last 2 weeks, there are close to 7000 cases daily.

Regarding Omicron, he said, so far more than 1,51,000 Omicron cases have been registered in 108 countries of the world. In the country too, 358 Omicron cases have been registered in 17 states and union territories till Friday morning. Of these, 114 cases have been cured.