Hyderabad: India will see a surge in Covid-19 cases by the end of January 2022 even as experts hope that the number of critically ill patients should not be as high as witnessed in the last wave.
Dr. Sambit Sahu, Director (Medical) Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), Hyderabad said the country will see a surge since "we are no different from the world".
"We expect a surge in COVID numbers by Jan end because we're no different from the world. We'll face what the world is facing. Hopefully, we'll not have the number of critically ill patients this time that we had earlier," Dr Sahu said according to news agency ANI.
His remarks come at a time when India is seeing a steady increase in Omicron cases with at least 16 states and Union Territories already reporting the new variant. So far, 358 cases of Omicron have been confirmed across the country.
Maharashtra has reported the highest 88 cases of the new strain followed by Delhi with 64 cases, Tamil Nadu 34, Telangana 24, Rajasthan 21, Karnataka 19, Kerala 15 and Gujarat 14 cases.
As far as Covid-19 is concerned, India reported 6,650 fresh cases on Friday. The country's caseload reached 3,47,72,626 with the active caseload standing at 77,516.
374 new Covid-related deaths were also reported in 24 hours, taking the total death count to 4,79,133.
Last week Dr. Rakesh K Mishra, former director Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) Hyderabad had said that he was confident that the country was better equipped to deal with the threat because of an exhaustive vaccination drive.
"India is in a much better position. We have a very high seropositivity rate and an excellent vaccine program going on. I hope we can further accelerate it and cover the remaining population as soon as possible," he said during an exclusive interview with ETV Bharat.
PM Narendra Modi recently chaired a high-level meeting to review the health infrastructure and containment and management of Covid-19.
The PM reviewed public health response measures for containment and management of COVID19, strengthening of health infrastructure including the availability of drugs, oxygen cylinders and concentrators, ventilators, PSA plants, ICU/oxygen supported beds, human resources, IT interventions and status of vaccination.
Officials briefed the PM about the emerging scenario globally driven by the new variant, with an overview of the surge in cases in countries having high vaccination coverage and the presence of the Omicron variant.
The PM directed the officials to maintain a high level of vigil and alertness at all levels. He directed the Centre to work in close coordination with the states to support their efforts of public health measures of containment and management.
"The strategy of the Centre for a proactive, focussed, collaborative and cooperative fight against the pandemic should guide all our future actions," the PM directed the officials.
"In view of the new variant, we should be satark and saavdhan," the PM directed.The fight against the pandemic is not over and the need for continued adherence to COVID safe behaviour is of paramount importance even today, Modi added.
Read: Omicron cases breach 300 mark in India; PM calls for recalibrating oxygen supply
