COVID third wave started in Mumbai, Delhi: Task Force member

India was waiting on tenterhooks, and now it has happened.

The pandemic’s third wave is upon us, a Maharashtra COVID Task Force member has admitted.

Dr Rahul Pandit, a member of the task force, was quoted as saying in a media report that it was “reasonable” to conclude that the third wave of the pandemic has begun in some clusters of Delhi and Mumbai.

He said initial trends and data on genome sequencing are still awaited but the COVID wave appears to have revived in India. “The rate at which the cases are doubling indicates that these are the characteristics of Omicron. But we are waiting for the genome sequencing reports of the last few days to understand the share of Omicron. Right now, it looks like a combination of Delta and Omicron,” the doctor told India Today TV.

Also read: Cambridge University predicts ‘short’ COVID surge in India starting this week

With news from South Africa highlighting that the Omicron variant was mild and not pushing people into hospitals, Dr Pandit said that one would have to wait for around 10 days or so to see the rate of hospitalisation in India.

In the last few days, Mumbai and Delhi have recorded exponential growth in daily COVID cases. On Thursday, Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain said 46 per cent of the total cases of coronavirus reported in the capital are of the Omicron variant. Significantly, people with no travel history are being found infected with Omicron, pointing to the start of community transmission.

“As a doctor, I will recommend that people must follow the rules and not hesitate to get themselves tested if they feel they have COVID symptoms. A lockdown will be imposed only if the government sees there is immense pressure on health infrastructure. Till then, there isn’t the need – provided people follow the rules and wear masks in public places,” Dr Pandit reportedly said.