A significant number of people catching Covid-19 these days are reinfections - those who had tested positive for Covid either during the Delta wave or Omicron wave, doctors told ET. There is a clear increase in cases in school-going children too, they added.
However, the surge in daily cases in Delhi and neighbouring states have sparked concerns over the possibility of a new wave.
Experts said the uptick in the number of Covid cases was bound to happen. "Uptick was expected as restrictions went away," said Anurag Agrawal, director, Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) at Ashoka University.
The weekly Covid tally has jumped 35% from last week. National capital Delhi is seeing a steady upsurge each day for the last few days. Other states including Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are seeing a rise in the cases. K Srinath Reddy, president, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) said that, "If other big cities too have large numbers of people getting exposed to the virus without masks even in crowded or ill-ventilated areas, the number of persons who are infected will rise," he said.
The solace is that there may not be a surge in numbers of seriously ill cases, Reddy said. Doctors said most patients with the virus again are showing mild to moderate symptoms.
"What we are seeing is that multiple people in the family are coming with flu symptoms. They are testing positive for Covid. Most of them have mild form of Covid illness. They are fully vaccinated, some of them must have had an infection in the past, too. But we must remember that vaccination doesn't prevent you from getting the disease, but it has turned these cases into mild cases with nobody requiring hospitlisation or any other intervention," said Sandeep Budhiraja, group medical director at Max Healthcare. Reinfections are possible.
"It is possible to get reinfected in less than three months but that's not an indication that vaccines don't work," said Rajeev Jayadevan, co-chairman of Indian Medical Association's (IMA) National Covid Task Force.
"Previous infection does not alter the risk of future infection. In the Delta wave 70% got infected and then in Omicron again 50 to 60% got infected. Whether past infection or not, every second Indian got an infection in the recent wave," said Chadrakant Lahariya, an epidemiologist and public policy specialist.
However, the surge in daily cases in Delhi and neighbouring states have sparked concerns over the possibility of a new wave.
Experts said the uptick in the number of Covid cases was bound to happen. "Uptick was expected as restrictions went away," said Anurag Agrawal, director, Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) at Ashoka University.
The weekly Covid tally has jumped 35% from last week. National capital Delhi is seeing a steady upsurge each day for the last few days. Other states including Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are seeing a rise in the cases. K Srinath Reddy, president, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) said that, "If other big cities too have large numbers of people getting exposed to the virus without masks even in crowded or ill-ventilated areas, the number of persons who are infected will rise," he said.
The solace is that there may not be a surge in numbers of seriously ill cases, Reddy said. Doctors said most patients with the virus again are showing mild to moderate symptoms.
"What we are seeing is that multiple people in the family are coming with flu symptoms. They are testing positive for Covid. Most of them have mild form of Covid illness. They are fully vaccinated, some of them must have had an infection in the past, too. But we must remember that vaccination doesn't prevent you from getting the disease, but it has turned these cases into mild cases with nobody requiring hospitlisation or any other intervention," said Sandeep Budhiraja, group medical director at Max Healthcare. Reinfections are possible.
"It is possible to get reinfected in less than three months but that's not an indication that vaccines don't work," said Rajeev Jayadevan, co-chairman of Indian Medical Association's (IMA) National Covid Task Force.
"Previous infection does not alter the risk of future infection. In the Delta wave 70% got infected and then in Omicron again 50 to 60% got infected. Whether past infection or not, every second Indian got an infection in the recent wave," said Chadrakant Lahariya, an epidemiologist and public policy specialist.
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