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As multiple peaks are being witnessed across the country, doctors are hopeful that the trend of falling cases in Mumbai and Delhi, for instance, soon become the norm across the country. They are, however, remaining watchful on the 600-plus deaths reported, from Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka and West Bengal, earlier on Tuesday.
By end of day, Mumbai reported 1,815 new Covid-19 cases along with 10 fatalities, reports said. And Delhi reported 6,028 cases with 31 deaths in the city.
In fact, India’s daily count of Covid-19 cases fell by more than 77,000 cases, in the 24 hours upto Tuesday morning, at 2,55,874. States including Maharashtra, Delhi, Kerala, West Bengal and Karnataka contributed to the fall in the number of infections.
Number of tests
The shrinking number coincided with a reduced number of tests conducted on Monday at over 16 lakh, compared to an earlier count of 19-20 lakh tests per day. The streamlined tests were attributed to the revised guidelines from the Centre that took into account the highly transmissible Omicron variant that was also seen to be less severe.
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Travellers not recognised as fully vaccinated will need to take a pre-departure test and one on arrivalAccording to the revised guidelines of the Indian Council of Medical Research, only symptomatic and high-risk people are tested, and that reflected in the reduced tests, a Government source said. Officials also attributed the sharp decline in the cases to the fast recovery period for the Omicron variant as attacks only the upper respiratory tract and does not penetrate the lungs.
“It is possible that the cases have come down due to decrease in the number of Covid tests done. But it is largely due to the fact that most of the people have already got infected (symptomatic or asymptomatic) of which only a few who went to the hospital for consultation were tested. Remaining ones got cured by self-treatment or no treatment,” DK Sharma, Superintendent at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), said.
“The number of people who actually got infected is possibly much larger than what has been shown by test results and so herd immunity is developing faster than anticipated,” Sharma further added.
In fact, health administrators also point out that hospitals are much less under pressure, compared to the peak of the second wave last year. And hence, the increasing number of cases were not at setting off alarm bells, at present.
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