By Krishna N. Das

NEW DELHI (Reuters] -India’s first death from Omicron COVID-19 was a man with diabetes who died in Rajasthan. This is according to India’s health ministry. They also said that infections have increased more than twice over the past week, reaching 58.097.

According to the health ministry, Omicron infection totals have risen to 2,135, just over one month after the initial case in Nigeria.

Officials from the government privately claim that daily infections in this country’s third round of infection could exceed the previous record of over 414,000 set last May. Many people don’t wear masks because most Omicron cases are mild and they take the Omicron variant very lightly.

Vinod Kumar Paul (top health official) declined to calculate a new peak, but stated that even mild cases could cause pressure on the country’s health system.

“There’s no room to be complacent,” Omicron said at the weekly media briefing. He also stated that Omicron is driving increased activity in the major cities. It’s not something you can take for granted. The system may get overwhelmed. Your household might get overwhelmed.

The government has reduced home quarantine for patients with mild or asymptomatic conditions to one week. It was previously 10-14 days.

A second official from the briefing stated that the old man, who he didn’t identify, was from Rajasthan and had died of heart attacks a few days earlier. Later genetic tests revealed that he was infected with the Omicron variant.

ELECTION RALLY FEARS

Despite the fact that there have been a number of cases and movement restrictions in some regions, mass rallies were held by political parties ahead of the state elections in the coming weeks and months.

According to officials, health officials will be meeting with representatives of the election commission on Thursday. However, private experts have raised concerns about whether the rally would lead to another spike in case numbers, just like last April and May.

This Wednesday saw the arrival of Tamil Nadu in southern India, which is home to many manufacturing plants such as Renault-Nissan Motors, Eicher Motors and Hyundai Motors. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE 🙂 and Foxconn have announced a lockdown of one day on Sunday, and a curfew every night, with some exceptions in industries.

Other cities and states have placed curfews as well as closed schools.

Experts have meanwhile urged hospitals to be ready.

Bhramar Mukherjee (Professor of Epidemiology at University of Michigan) wrote, “Infections will be rising rapidly.”

She said, “Scale-up hospital capacities and maximise care to those that really need it.”

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi cancelled its winter vacation for employees between January 5th and 10. Recent cases of the virus have been reported by many nurses and doctors.

In Delhi especially, authorities have stated repeatedly that only people who require round-the-clock supervision should be admitted to hospital, while those with other medical needs should stay at home.

Delhi tightened up virus mitigation measures on Tuesday, ordering people to stay home https://www.reuters.com/world/india/india-reports-most-covid-19-cases-since-early-september-2022-01-04 on the weekends, in addition to a night curfew.

India had 35 million cases of COVID-19, which is the second-highest number after the United States. Health ministry officials reported 534 more deaths Wednesday. That brings the total to 482,551.