Omicron triggers third wave as India adds 58,000 new Covid-19 cases
New Delhi, Jan 5 (EFE).- India added more than 58,000 Covid-19 infections Wednesday, the highest in the last nearly seven months of the daily dip of cases.
The alarming rise in the number of daily infections has signaled the arrival of the third wave of the virus outbreak in the crowded country of 1.35 billion people.
The federal health ministry said 58,097 people had tested positive in the last 24 hours from Tuesday morning, marking a 60 percent rise in infections from a day ago when less than 38,0000 cases were confirmed.
The authorities also added 534 new virus fatalities, including some previously unreported deaths in the southern state of Kerala that reported the highest 432.
The spike is driven by the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of the virus that has gripped three big metropolises of Mumbai, New Delhi, and Kolkata and more than doubled the daily cases in recent days.
The western state of Maharashtra, whose capital is Mumbai, has added the highest numbers of new coronavirus patients with 18,466 confirmed cases over the past day.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said the national capital territory was likely to report around 10,000 new Covid-19 cases by Wednesday evening.
He said the third wave had set in India, but “for Delhi, it is the fifth.”
The national capital recorded 5,481 coronavirus cases and three deaths Wednesday, with the government announcing fresh curbs.
The city government imposed a weekend curfew and work from home for government employees to contain the sudden rise of infections.
Weeks ago, India’s daily number of Covid-19 cases hovered around 6,000 after a devastating second wave hit the country in April.
The peak of the second wave had pushed the healthcare system to collapse, caused a shortage of oxygen across the country, and overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums due to rising fatalities.
India has recorded more than 35 million Covid-19 infections, including 482,551 deaths since the pandemic began two years ago.
Authorities have immunized more than 600 million people with the two doses of the anti-covid vaccine.
At least 862 million have received their first dose. EFE
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