Delhi, Mumbai may have hit Covid peak as cases fall, Bengal extends curbs to contain spread

India’s Covid-19 infections have spiralled to see more than a lakh cases daily over the past week as the Omicron variant spreads to every corner of the country.

Fresh tally of infections increased from about 1.8 lakh on Monday to nearly 2.7 lakh on Saturday, as per data available on the Union health ministry website.

Although a majority of the patients in the third wave of the pandemic have so far complained of symptoms no different from a flu, experts have warned that the Delta strain, which caused the devastating second wave, is still around.

Here’s how this week in the pandemic looked for India:

Delhi and Mumbai, two cities recording the highest cases of coronavirus disease, turned their Covid graph, reporting a dip in cases and signalling what appears to be a plateauing of infections.

At the same time, Maharashtra remained the top contributor to India’s Covid curve with 42,462 new cases and 23 deaths as of Saturday. Karnataka overtook Delhi to hold the second spot with 32,793 new infections and seven deaths in a single day.

The national capital reported the highest number of Covid deaths. At least 30 fatalities were reported on Saturday, pushing the capital’s January toll to 228.

States continued with weekend curfews and restrictions to curb the virus spread. A total of 6,041 Omicron cases have been detected so far, an increase of 5.01 per cent since Friday, the data updated at 8am showed.

West Bengal and Tamil Nadu extended their existing Covid-19 restrictions till January 31 due to a rise in cases. Bengal has emerged as the latest Covid hotbed with daily cases rising to over 19,000 on Saturday.

India started the ‘precautionary’ inoculation drive or booster dose for frontline workers and senior citizens with comorbidities on Monday with over one million beneficiaries getting jabbed on the first day. More than 3.8 million beneficiaries have received their precautionary vaccine dose in India so far.

The Election Commission extended the ban on public rallies and roadshows in the five poll-bound states by a week, till January 22. The poll body granted relaxation to political parties in the states of Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, allowing indoor meetings of maximum of 300 persons or 50 per cent of the capacity of the hall.