With Omicron, third wave projected to hit India by Februray: IIT scientist

With Omicron the new variant of SARSCoV2 the third wave of coronavirus could hit the peak by February with cases likely to be reaching up to 115 lakh a day in the country but it will be milder than the second wave Manindra Agarwal IIT scientist involved in the mathematical projection of trajectory of COVID19 saidHe said in the new forecast the new Omicron variant has been factored inldquoWith the new variant our current forecast is that the country could see the third wave by February but it will be milder than the second wave So far we have seen that the severity of Omicron is not like the one seen in the Delta variantrdquo Agarwal told PTIHe however said a close eye is being kept on cases in South Africa where many cases of this variant have been recorded Agarwal added that as of now South Africa has not seen a rise in hospitalisationHe said a fresh set of data on the virus and hospitalisations would help in getting a more solid pictureldquoIt looks like although the new variant has shown high transmissibility its severity is not like the one seen in the Delta variantrdquo Agarwal saidHe said as observed during the spread of delta a mild lockdown night curfew restrictions on crowding can bring down beta substantially That will significantly reduce the peak value he addedAlso read Omicron Samples of 246 foreign returnees in Odisha sent for genome sequencingThe Department of Science and Technology DST backed Sutramodel had earlier said the third wave of coronavirus could hit the country by October if a new variant more virulent and transmissible than the Delta emergesHowever till November end there was no new variant It had then revised its forecast to NovemberOn November 26 the World Health Organisation WHO named the Covid19 virus variant detected in South Africa and some other countries as OmicronThe WHO has also classified the Omicron variant as a Variant of Concern Experts have expressed possibilities that owing to the genetic modification in the virus it may possess some specific characteristicsWhile the transmissibility of infection seems to have increased because of this new variant there is still not enough clarity on whether or not it will cause severe disease and whether it will evade immunity More information is expected in the next two weeks time or so it saidIndia has so far reported 21 cases of the Omicron variant including 17 on Sunday nine persons from Rajasthan capital Jaipur seven in Maharashtras Pune district and a fully vaccinated man who arrived in Delhi from TanzaniaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever