NEW DELHI: The next 40 days will be crucial as India could see a surge in Covid-19 cases in January, health ministry officials warned on Wednesday, citing the pattern of past coronavirus outbreaks in the country.
However, they said even if there is a new wave, infections will not be severe. Also, they do not expect a phenomenal rise in hospitalisations and deaths as most Indians have been vaccinated and have hybrid immunity, as compared to China, which had earlier followed a flawed zero-Covid policy. Hybrid immunity is the protection provided by a combination of infection and vaccination.
“The trend we have seen in earlier Covid waves is that a new wave hits India in around 35-40 days whenever a surge is seen in East Asia,” official sources said. The warning came amidst a surge in Covid-19 cases globally, especially in China, driven by the Omicron sub-variant BF.7.
Officials said 39 international passengers tested positive for Covid-19 out of the 6,000 arrivals screened at airports across the country in the last two days. Mandatory Covid testing of 2% of international arrivals from hotspots nations began on Saturday last.
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Starting next week, carrying Covid-negative RT-PCR report of test taken 72 hours prior to the flight could be made mandatory for all international passengers from countries like China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore. The proposal was to have been formalised this week itself, but there has been no official announcement yet.
The government, which on November 22 discontinued mandatory filling up of Air Suvidha forms, may bring it back if infection cases start climbing. Air Suvidha is a self-declaration Covid vaccination form introduced as a preventive measure that also helped in contact tracing.