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Noting that Omicron COVID-19 variant is transmitting actively, NTAGI chief Dr NK Arora pointed out the peak will depend on how well the community adheres to the COVID appropriate behaviour.
“If the COVID norms are violated, a faster and taller peak is likely to occur. On the other hand, vaccination and administrative actions like night curfews, and weekend curfews tend to flatten the curve," Chairman of COVID-19 Working Group of National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) said while speaking to news agency ANI.
Referring IIT Kanpur's model for COVID-19, he asserted that it shows that transmission is taking place very actively and we should be reaching our peak in the near future. ‘But it is likely to last for several weeks before it subsides.’
COVID surge in Delhi and Mumbai is driven by Omicron
Speaking about the behaviour of the virus, NTAGI chief told ANI, “It appears that most of the COVID cases being reported in the country now are of the Omicron variant. The initial experience from the genomic surveillance showed that from 10 days to two weeks, over 90% of the virus is circulating in the big cities like Delhi, Pune, Mumbai which is the Omicron variant."
The behaviour, mild illness, everybody in the family getting infected, it looks like the surge is driven by Omicron.
However, in some parts of the country Delta COVID variant is still dominant. "There will be some cases of Delta as well in the areas where Delta epidemic was already going on like some districts of Tamil Nadu and the areas of the Northeastern states. So in a situation like this, we should be more focused on taking care of Omicron and its management," he stated.
Most COVID deaths are associated with comorbidities
Most deaths due to COVID-19 are associated with patients with comorbidities, Arora pointed out.
"Most of the COVID deaths occurring on a daily basis are associated with comorbidities like heart attack, brain stroke or other problems. But yes, there are some deaths that are occurring because of the virus. But overall the situation is under control," he said as quoted by news agency ANI.
"About 85 per cent of the deaths being reported are from people above 60 years of age," Dr Arora added.
India reported more than 1.5 lakh new COVID-19 cases for the third consecutive day on Tuesday. The country reported 1,68,063 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed today.
(With inputs from agencies)
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