Covid third wave: Weekly positivity rate over 10% in 120 districts, says govt

As the third wave of Covid-19 rages across India, government data has shown that the weekly positivity rate has crossed 10% in at least 120 districts across 29 states and Union Territories. The third wave of the pandemic is driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant of coronavirus.

The positivity rate is the number of people testing positive for every 100 tests.

The positivity rate is 10 percent in only two districts as of December 24. The weekly positivity rate rose to over 10 percent in 41 districts in 17 states and Union Territories by January 6.

More districts continued to report high positivity rate and currently, a total of 120 districts have a weekly positivity rate of over 10 percent, government data shows.

Meanwhile, a top government expert has said that the Omicron variant is "almost unstoppable" and everyone will eventually be infected with it.

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Dr. Jaiprakash Muliyil of the Indian Council of Medical Research told NDTV on Tuesday that "a majority of us will not know we have been infected, probably more than 80% will not even know when we have it."

The epidemiologist stressed that booster shots of Covid vaccine will make no difference. "The infection will occur. It has occurred all over the world regardless of boosters," he said.