India sees big rise in Covid nos.

R naught value higher than 2nd wave peak: Govt

New Delhi: India is seeing an exponential rise in the number of Covid cases, which is believed to be driven by its Omicron variant, the Centre said on Wednesday, while highlighting that the country’s R naught value, which indicates the spread of the infection, is 2.69, higher than the 1.69 recorded during the peak of the Covid second wave.

Addressing a press meet here, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Dr Balram Bhargava said the spike in the number of Covid cases is being witnessed in cities and “the Omicron variant is the predominant circulating strain”. “We are now facing an exponential rise in (the number of) COVID-19 cases and we believe that largely, it is being driven by Omicron, particularly so in the western parts of our country and even particularly so in larger cities from where we have more data,” NITI Aayog member (Health) Dr V K Paul said.

On December 30, the case positivity rate was 1.1 per cent and the next day, it was 1.3 per cent and now, the country is reporting a positivity rate of five per cent, he said, adding that similarly, there were 13,000 Covid cases on December 30 and the number went up to 58,000 on Tuesday. “Clearly, this is an expanding pandemic. The R nought value is 2. 69. This is higher than the 1. 69 we saw when the second wave of the pandemic was at its peak. The acceleration of cases is steeper than ever,” Paul said.

He added that the hospitalisation rates are relatively low. Bhargava said an Omicron-detecting RT-PCR kit has been developed, and it has been approved by the Drugs Controller General of India. —(PTI)