CHENNAI: Amid rising cases and hospitalisations due to Covid-19 in India, the US, France, Canada and other countries, the Chairman of Covid-19 Working Group of National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) on Tuesday suggested a rapid increase of cases in the coming days.
Dr NK Arora claimed that the IIT's modelling shows there will be a rapid increase in the cases during the upcoming days. Asserting that Covid appropriate behaviour and vaccination are the two important factors to contain the spread of Covid19, he said, "Administrative steps like curfews also help."
Explaining further he said, "There are 3-4 sub-lineages of Omicron variant of coronavirus. These sub-lineages could be different when it comes to diagnosis but their epidemiological behaviour is the same."
"Molnupiravir, which prevents hospitalisation and ICU admissions, should be given to senior citizens, particularly those with comorbidities. It should not be given to people of the reproductive age," he advised.
Meanwhile, a report said that most people contracting Covid-19 are lately reporting symptoms such as acute leg pain and itchy throat two days after infection.
A BBC report has made mention about officials investigating a private laboratory accused of faulty Covid-19 tests on passengers on two flights from Italy last week. The report said that Airport officials in Punjab have revealed that they have stopped using the services of the lab, SpiceHealth, after at least 173 passengers from Rome, and 125 travellers from Milan tested positive on arrival in Amritsar.
India's total Covid-19 cases on Tuesday stood at 1,68,063 taking the total tally of Covid-19 cases to 3,58,75,790 which includes 4,461 cases of the Omicron variant. The active cases rose to 8,21,446, the highest in 208 days, while the death toll climbed to 4,84,213 with 277 fresh fatalities.