After showing signs of flattening the Covid chaos curve for over a month, fresh positive cases in India have once again started rising. On Thursday, the country witnessed more than 16,000 positive cases, a clear indication that the third wave of the Covid pandemic has already begun.
And now, a Cambridge University expert who has previously predicted the Covid second wave in India has warned about the repercussions of the third wave in the country.
An explosion of cases awaits India
Paul Kattuman, professor at the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge which has developed a Covid-19 India tracker revealed that India will see a drastic surge in positive cases. However, he made it clear that the wave will be short-lived.
"It is likely that India will see a period of explosive growth in daily cases and that the intense growth phase will be relatively short. New infections will begin to rise in a few days, possibly within this week," said Kattuman, Livemint reports.
Kattuman also made it clear that it is very much difficult to predict the potential number of cases that could be recorded in India during the wave's peak.
Omicron and Delta variants: The twin threats
Yesterday, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had suggested that the Omicron community spread has already begun. According to Jain, the presence of the Omicron variant among people with no travel history is a clear indication that the highly transmissible strain of the pandemic is spreading across the community.
Meanwhile, a study conducted by Indian SARS-COV-2 Genomics Consortia INSACOG had suggested that the Omicron variant is capable to evade the immunity offered by the virus. The World Health Organization (WHO) had also recently warned that the Delta and Omicron variants are twin threats.
"I am highly concerned that Omicron, being more transmissible, circulating at the same time as Delta, is leading to a tsunami of cases. This is and will continue to put immense pressure on exhausted health workers, and health systems on the brink of collapse," said WHO chief Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
