Covid panel chief says Third Wave of Covid is on in India, Omicron variant is driver

Amid a sharp spike in Covid-19 infections and increasing Omicron concerns, India's Covid Task Force chief Dr NK Arora has said that the third wave of coronavirus is very much here.

In an interview with NDTV, Dr Arora said that large cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata have a combined 75 per cent share of infections of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

Noting that the share of Omicron infection in India's Covid cases has gone up from 12 to 28% in just one week, Dr Arora added that the variant is rapidly increasing as a proportion of all the Covid infections in the country.

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The Chairman of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation said that "India is clearly in the third wave of Covid-19 which seems to be driven by the Omicron variant".

India has so far reported 1,700 Omicron cases, with Maharashtra reporting the most number of infections at 510. The country also saw a 22 per cent jump in new Covid-19 cases on Monday.