Indian megacities Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata are experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases, although without a corresponding rise in hospitalisations, but fears are growing about a spread to rural areas in coming days.
India reported 90,928 new daily COVID-19 cases on Thursday, up nearly four-fold since the start of the year, mostly from cities where health officials say the Omicron variant has overtaken Delta.
The bulk of those infected have shown no or only mild symptoms and have recovered quickly at home, officials said.
The federal health ministry on Wednesday iden-tified Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Ben-galuru as some of the main regions of concern, al-though state officials worry the disease will soon spread to the countryside where health facilities are weaker.
Kolkata, a city of about 15 million, accounted for half of the new cases in the eastern state of West Bengal until a few days ago, but cases are now ris-ing in neighbouring districts. The state has reported one of the highest rates of infections in India.
“We are watching the situation in the districts and rural belts where the numbers are also grow-ing,” said Ajay Chakraborty, director of the West Bengal health services who has isolated himself at home after contracting the virus.
Many COVID beds in Kolkata were still empty, Chakraborty said. In the government-run Infectious Diseases and Beliaghata General Hospital, only 75 admissions were recorded on Tuesday despite more than 9,000 new cases, he added.
In the west, Mumbai recorded a new daily infec-tion peak of 15,166 on Wednesday, well up on its previous high of just over 11,000 hit last year.
Nearly 90% of new patients had shown no symp-toms and only 8% were hospitalised, city officials said in a daily health bulletin.—Reuters
