New Delhi:
A “tsunami” of Omicron and Delta-COVID-19 cases will put pressure on health systems already stretched to their limits, the World Health Organization warned on Wednesday.
The WHO said the worrisome Delta and Omicron variants were “twin threats” that pushed new cases to record highs, leading to spikes in hospitalizations and deaths.
The WHO said the number of new global cases rose 11 percent last week, while the United States and France both registered record daily cases on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Delhi reported a massive 923 coronavirus cases on Wednesday — an 86 percent increase in cases from the previous day and the highest since May 30. There are no related deaths in the city in 24 hours.
The national capital has witnessed a gradual rise in the number of cases over the past week, with the positivity rate now rising to 1.29 percent.
India reported 9,195 new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, according to the health ministry. The country’s active caseload is now at 77,002. The number of Omicron cases has risen to 781 and at least 241 have recovered, the ministry said.
Here are the LIVE updates on coronavirus cases in India:
Emphasizing that the Omicron variant infects both vaccinated and unvaccinated people worldwide, WHO chief scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan has said it appears that vaccines are still proving to be effective because while numbers are increasing exponentially in many countries, the severity of the disease has not risen to a new level.
“As expected, T-cell immunity is more resistant to #Omicron. This will protect us from serious diseases. Please get vaccinated if you haven’t,” Ms Swaminathan said in a tweet on Wednesday. Either vaccines or previous infections with COVID-19 trigger human T-cell response.
Explaining the factors responsible for vaccine effectiveness against COVID-19, Swaminathan said virtually at the WHO press briefing on Wednesday that vaccine effectiveness varies a bit between vaccines, although the majority of all WHO vaccines for emergency use in fact have a very high degree of protection against serious illness and death at least up to the delta variant.