Omicron spread: Daily Covid-19 cases set to cross 100,000 mark in India

Positivity rate above 6.4%; Centre asks states to re-establish district control rooms

The daily Covid cases in India are expected to cross 100,000 from more than 90,928 recorded on Thursday, according to the data shared by the health ministry on January 6.

The rapid rise, spurred by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, has pushed the daily positivity rate above 6.4 per cent and the weekly positivity rate to 3.47 per cent.

Thursday’s case count was close to the peak levels seen during the first wave.

India’s active caseload too has increased by 33 per cent to 285,401 as of Thursday.

While the positivity rate has increased, the fatality rate is below 2 per cent at 1.38 per cent.

The Centre has asked the states to re-establish district control rooms to guide patients and monitor real-time data on the availability of different types of hospital beds, and collate the daily status of patients in home isolation.

The health ministry has said, “A clear and transparent mechanism for allotment of beds must be ensured by the control rooms.” 

A letter by Arti Ahuja, additional secretary, health ministry, told state officials: “You are requested to kindly review this at your level and also assign nodal officers for different levels of control rooms who can be in touch with each other at all times and provide seamless services to citizens.”

These control rooms, depending on the case load, have to be operational round the clock and must have uninterrupted internet connectivity and adequate staff. 

The number in Delhi increased from over 10,000 on Wednesday to more than 15,000 on Thursday and the positivity rate crossed 15 per cent. Six deaths were recorded and 22 patients severely ill were on ventilator support.

“No Omicron patient has yet required oxygen or ventilator support,” Satyendar Jain, Delhi’s health minister, told reporters.

In Mumbai, where the cases crossed 20,000 on Thursday, up from 15,000 on Wednesday, most infections are being seen in non-slum areas, and the civic authorities are expecting the demand for beds in private hospitals to surge.

It has, therefore, asked all private hospitals and nursing-homes in the city to make arrangements to restore their peak Covid-19 bed capacity (May 2021 levels) by January 10.

Nearly 6,000 of the 35,000 Covid-19 beds in the city are now occupied. Around 1,170 patients required hospitalisation on Wednesday, maintaining the tally of 1,000-odd people getting hospitalised every day now. At this rate, Mumbai will touch 20,000 cases of hospitalisation in around two weeks, when the municipal commissioner has hinted at implementing a lockdown in the city. 

Municipal Commissioner I S Chahal has asked all private hospitals and nursing homes to update the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) dashboard on the bed availability status. 

Any asymptomatic patient should be discharged within three days, the civic body has directed hospitals. Hospitals have been asked not to take any direct admission without notifying the ward war-rooms. Eighty per cent of the Covid-19 beds and 100 percent of the ICU beds are reserved for ward war-rooms’ allotment. 

With the precautionary dose drive set to start on January 10, the health ministry has said private hospitals could give the precautionary dose to their eligible staff for free or charge them for it.

The health ministry will issue a letter for vaccinating eligible health and front line workers in armed and special forces. 

So far, India has vaccinated 91 per cent of the adult population with the first dose while 66 per cent have two shots. In the 15-17-year age bracket, more than 17 per cent have received their first dose.