Dr VK Paul: expect 14 lakh Covid-19 cases daily if UK-like coronavirus wave sweeps India

Amid concerns over the Omicron variant of Covid-19, NITI Aayog Member-Health, Dr VK Paul has said 'if India sees United Kingdom-like Covid-19 spike, there will be 14 lakh coronavirus cases daily’.

As the Omicron variant fuels a surge in infections across many regions of the world, Dr Paul’s remarks came with the British government on Friday reporting 93,045 new coronavirus cases, which is a third consecutive record daily tally.

On Friday, Britain reported 3,201 cases of the new variant, the biggest daily increase since Omicron was detected in the country, taking the total such cases to 14,909, according to official figures.

"If we look at the scale of spread in the UK and if there is a similar outbreak in India, then given our population, there will be 14 lakh cases every day," Dr Paul said.

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He added that Omicron is believed to be behind the spread but this is still an “emerging and unexpected scenario” and the government is keeping an eye on all the developments.

The Niti Aayog member also said that genome sequencing of every sample is not possible.