With a sharp rise in the number of daily cases in Mumbai – is this the start of a third wave? Epidemiologists and health experts said that if the increase continues for two weeks, the next wave has begun, as reported by Hindustan Times.
For the past few days, the city affected by the Omicron variant has been witnessing a rapid increase in the number of COVID cases. On Sunday, 922 new cases were reported in the city, 757 on Saturday, 683 on Friday.
Epidemiologist and health systems expert Dr. Chandrakant Laharia said, “Continuous growth for another two weeks will make it clear whether the city has started seeing a new wave.” If you plot the numbers on a graph, So continued growth will show an upward curve, which will be an indicator of a wave. For the time being, city authorities should watch this trend closely,” he said, Hindustan Times reported.
“Each setting is likely to experience a different trend. For example, while Mumbai and Delhi have registered an uptick in cases over the past few days, the cumulative data for the country has not shown an upward trend.”
Speaking on the sudden rise, epidemiologist Dr Jayaprakash Muliyil, who is also a member of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization in India (NTAGI), had expected an increase in the presence of the highly permeable omicron variant.
“If we start translating these numbers into a graph, it will look like the start of a new wave. But we must wait and watch the trend.”
“Globally, the Omicron variant is replacing the delta variant, but it is causing a milder illness and has not increased the number of hospitalizations. The Hindustan Times report said that given the immunity to the virus as well as vaccination among Indians, it is likely that the new wave will have no consequences.
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