Covid positivity up 11% in two weeks; daily cases set to hit 200,000 today

With daily Covid cases hitting nearly 200,000 in less than a fortnight, India's positivity rate has also risen from 1 percent on December 30, 2021 to over 11 percent on Wednesday. The number of districts with a positive rate of more than 5 percent has nearly quadrupled in the past week, from less than 80 to 300 as of Jan. 11, according to data from the Ministry of Health.

There are eight states where weekly cases and positivity rates have risen sharply in the past week. In Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Gujarat, the number of active cases has increased sixfold to elevenfold.

Bihar en Madhya Pradesh, bijvoorbeeld, zagen de afgelopen week een elfvoudige toename van actieve gevallen. In Rajasthan is het aantal actieve gevallen met een factor 9,6 gestegen. Onder de zorgwekkende districten is het wekelijkse positiviteitspercentage van Kolkata meer dan 60 procent.

“The data from metros makes it clear that Omicron is rapidly replacing Delta in India. But Delta has not completely disappeared. However, we should not treat Omicron like a cold. One of the reasons the effect is mild is also because vaccinations have taken place.” , VK Paul, chairman of the national Covid task force, and health member NITI Aayog, said during a weekly media briefing on the Covid situation in India.

The Department of Health cited a study by the New York State Department of Health and said that as of December 13, 2021, fully vaccinated people were about 78 percent less likely to become infected compared to unvaccinated people.

In India, 92 percent of adults have received their first dose, while 68 percent have been fully vaccinated. Thirty-eight percent of individuals between the ages of 15 and 17 have taken the first dose.

The government also assured that the country is in "very good shape in terms of testing capabilities".

The director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Balram Bhargava, while elaborating the production capabilities of various test kits, explained: “The lateral flow tests, such as the rapid and home antigen test kits, can prevent Covid infection from day 3 to day 7.”

India has a maximum production capacity of 9.7 million such test kits per day. Kits, such as OmiSure, developed by Tata MD, have been reviewed and validated by the ICMR-National Institute of Virology for detecting Omicron cases and will be rolled out soon.