New Delhi:
India on Wednesday reported new coronavirus infections at an eight-month high and a government scientist warned it will be weeks before data on hospitalizations and deaths will show how severe the latest wave, powered by the Omicron variant, will be.
Authorities have said Omicron caused fewer hospitalizations and deaths than the Delta variant, which caused hundreds of thousands of deaths last year.
But Tarun Bhatnagar of the ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology in Chennai said the impact of the current increase in infections will come with some delay.
“We have to worry about hospitalization and deaths and that will come later,” he told Reuters in a telephone interview.
“There will always be a delay of two to three weeks.”
India reported 282,970 new infections in the past 24 hours, the highest in eight months, bringing the total to 37.9 million, the second highest worldwide after the United States.
Although infection rates have fallen in major cities of late, experts say national cases could peak by mid-next month.
About 70% of the 939 million adult population have received two primary vaccines and a booster campaign is underway for health professionals and at-risk groups. But millions are still waiting for their first injection and Mr Bhatnagar cited reports from some states that those who are not or not fully vaccinated make up over 90% of intensive care patients.
India also reported the first major rise in COVID-19 testing in a week on Wednesday after the health ministry warned states of the risks of missing out on the spread of the virus.
States conducted about 1.9 million tests on Tuesday, the highest since January 12 and close to India’s daily testing capacity of more than 2 million.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)