Health experts noted that going by the trend, the majority of the positive cases are likely to be Omicron but confirmation is pending.
New Delhi: While the recent surge in Covid cases seen in India is largely due to Omicron, it does not mean that Delta has weakened, experts contend. India on Tuesday (January 11) recorded 1,68,063 new Covid cases, taking the total tally to 8,21,446. Although the fresh infections were 6.4 percent less than Monday when the country logged 1,79,723, the weekly positivity rate has climbed to 8.85 percent and the daily positivity rate has declined to 10.64 percent. On the other hand, 4,461 Omicron cases were recorded from 28 states.
So can we say this is an Omicron wave?
While it is relatively easy to test for Covid-19 through an RT-PCR or RAT test, figuring out which variant is responsible requires genome sequencing.
Data sent to the open access GISAID genomic surveillance showed that more than 30 percent of the sequenced samples from India were Omicron during the month of December.
Health experts noted that going by the trend, the majority of the positive cases are likely to be Omicron but confirmation is pending.
“Currently we can sequence only a small fraction of daily cases, so the question is what percentage of those viruses that are sequenced turn out to be Omicron. That’s how we know that we are in an Omicron wave, since most of the sequences have turned out to be those of Omicron,” Gautam I. Menon, Professor at Departments of Physics and Biology, Ashoka University, told IANS.
Global surge in Omicron Cases
Global data, particularly from South Africa, the UK and the US show that over time as new variants emerge, the one which has better transmissibility and immune evasion takes over the preceding variant.
“The same happened with Omicron which is now causing more than 90 percent of new cases in the US and the UK, India is soon set to follow suit,” Dr Dipu T.S., Associate Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases Amrita Hospital, Kochi, told IANS.
