The Covid-19 positive rates in New York City have more than doubled within three days according to Dr. Jay Varma. He is a leading health advisor for Mayor Bill de Blasio.

“Um, this is the first time we have seen it in NYC.” he tweeted.

The omicron version spreads and the positive rate is rising. According to CDC dataNew York City and New Jersey were the states that saw the fastest spread of the variant, according to data released Wednesday. According to the data, 13.1% of New York’s cases are omicron-positive in the CDC area that covers New York and New Jersey. This is compared with 2.9% nationally.

The percentage of positive test results in the city increased from 3.9% up to 7.8% between December 9 and 12. “This is #SARSCoV2 evading both vaccine & virus induced immunity against infection unlike any variant before,” Varma added.

However, he noted that New York City administers 67,000 PCR tests per day. This is more than any other city or community in the United States. Also, because the city’s data is delayed by three days, current positivity rates might be higher or previous data could still be altered.