Covid case positivity rate going high, Omicron not common cold-Centre

After four days of decline in daily cases Mumbai on Wednesday reported 16,420 new Covid cases, 40% higher than Tuesday. The positivity rate went up to 24.38% from 18.75%. According to the BMC, 67,339 coronavirus tests were carried out in the city in the last 24 hours, up from 62,097 on Tuesday. Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said the rise in daily positive cases is due to revised national testing guidelines. "Due to the recent change in the national COVID testing guidelines two days ago, where it has been directed that only symptomatic cases will be tested, it is likely to create a spike in positivity as most of the symptomatic cases would be almost confirmed positive cases," he said. Delhi on Wednesday also records 27,561 new Covid-19 cases, 40 deaths in the last 24 hours with a positivity rate at 26.22 per cent. There are 25,240 patients in home isolation, says the bulletin. Over the last 24 hours, 1,05,102 tests were conducted, out of which 85,349 were RT-PCR tests, while 19,753 were antigen tests in Delhi.

Meanwhile, the Centre said the rise in the positivity rate in the last 12 days have been sharp and concerning. On December 30, the case positivity rate was 1.1 per cent.  Omicron is rapidly replacing Delta," Niti Aayog member (health) Dr VK Paul said during the weekly press conference of the health ministry. Dr Paul said, "Omicron is not a common cold. It is not so simple and neither should it be taken so lightly. And even if Omicron appears less severe, it is because of the extensive vaccination coverage that we have achieved. The same Omicron has challenged the health infrastructure of many countries." There is a mixed picture of Delta and Omicron which will also change, Dr Paul said.  A total of 300 districts in India are reporting a weekly Covid case positivity rate of more than 5%. Maharashtra West Bengal, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Gujarat are states of concern, the ministry said.

Dr Balram Bhargava, DG, ICMR said, "All symptomatic individuals need to be tested including all high-risk case contacts of laboratory-confirmed cases... Asymptomatic cases are not required to get tested unless they're at high risk. Home quarantine for all contacts for 7 days.". Bharat Biotech has said that the Covaxin( BBV152) booster is shown to neutralize both Omicron and Delta variants of SARS-CoV-2.