COVID-19: India is in the midst of the COVID-19 third wave driven by OmicronNew Delhi: India reported 1,94,720 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, 15.8 per cent higher than yesterday’s 1.68 lakh cases. The daily positivity rate – or number of people infected per 100 tests – is 11.5 per cent, this morning’s government data shows.The country has so far reported 4,868 cases of Omicron infection, the highly transmissible coronavirus variant first detected in South Africa. Maharashtra has the most Omicron cases with 1,281, followed by Rajasthan with 645 cases.Over 153 crore vaccine doses have been administered in India since the time inoculation started, making a significant milestone in the fight against COVID-19.At least 120 districts in 29 states and Union Territories have reported a weekly positivity rate of 10 per cent in the third wave of the pandemic.India is giving booster dose to frontline medical workers and those above 60 with comorbidities. Despite this, the Omicron variant is “almost unstoppable” and everyone will eventually be infected with it, a top government expert told NDTV yesterday.Booster vaccine doses won’t stop the rapid spread of the virus, said Dr Jaiprakash Muliyil, epidemiologist and chairperson of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the National Institute of Epidemiology at the Indian Council of Medical Research, adding that Omicron presents itself just like the cold.”It makes no difference. The infection will occur. It has occurred all over the world regardless of this,” Dr Muliyil said about the booster doses.In the third wave of the pandemic, most infected people have recovered at home and the level of hospitalisations has been less than half of that seen during the last major wave of infections in April and May.Many states have announced night curfews while Delhi also imposed a weekend lockdown last week, closed private offices as well as restaurants and bars in a bid to rein in the fast-spreading Omicron variant.
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