The government credited wide vaccination coverage for the fall in number of deaths.
Omicron is now the dominant variant of Covid-19 in India, the government said today. There are also early indications of a plateau in the number of cases, with just the top 10 states contributing to 77 per cent of total active cases in the country, the health ministry told reporters. The percentage of the highly transmissible Omicron variant increased rapidly in December and January and the prevalence of the Omicron subvariant called BA.2 is increasing in our community, it added.
The government credited wide vaccination coverage for a fall in the number of deaths. "Active case numbers and corresponding deaths are much lower in this wave," it said and pointed out that the severity of infections is also relatively lower.
More than 90 per cent of cases are in home isolation with mild to moderate severity and there are a lower number of cases needing oxygen and ICU beds, it said.
There are enough vaccines available and vaccinating more people is the most important step in fighting the virus, said Dr Balram Bhargava, Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). He also cautioned people with comorbidities to be especially careful and avoid large gatherings because the outcome is not as good in patients who have comorbidities.
We are not seeing only Omicron cases, Dr. Sujeet Kumar Singh, Director, National Centre for Disease Control, said and added that Odisha, West Bengal and Maharashtra are still showing cases of the Delta variant of the virus. "Clinical severity and hospitalisation can be caused by Delta as well," he said. Stressing the need to get vaccinated and follow Covid appropriate behaviour, he said that people who are unvaccinated and have comorbidities "are dying in Delhi". These two groups comprise 64 per cent of total Covid deaths, he added.
Highlighting some figures regarding the spread of the virus, the Centre said that 11 states have more than 50,000 active cases, and 14 states have between 10,000 and 50,000 active cases. 551 districts in the country are reporting a positivity rate of over five per cent, which is up from 527 districts last week.
The government has also launched the e-Sanjeevani platform for telemedicine and more than 2.3 crore teleconsultation have been provided to date, it claimed.
On market approval for vaccines, the government said that Covishield and Covaxin have been asked to share data every six months.
They will be rolled out in a programmatic setting, meaning all data will be on the Co-Win platform and all Adverse event following immunization (AEFI) data will be shared every six months.
