Also, omicron infection continues to be mild with nearly 40 per cent of India’s current omicron patients (4,031 as of Monday) fully recovered.
“The infection in the current wave appears to be mild and people who get Covid should recover easily following the home isolation guidelines put up on the health ministry website,” said a government source adding that hospitalisations in the current wave are one fourth of what was seen in the second wave, if Delhi alone is taken as a test case.
The health ministry data show the country’s medical oxygen capacity since the height of the second wave has also doubled from 9,500 MT on May 27, 2021 to 19,236 MT a day.
“The highest number of fresh cases India saw was around 4 lakh on May 7. We are bound to cross that but are much better prepared to deal with Covid than we were in 2021. The medical oxygen capacity available today is double of the peak of the second wave (9,500 MT on May 25). We do not know if we will even need that much medical oxygen with omicron as it is an upper respiratory tract infection. As a country we are prepared two to three times on all indicators,” a senior government official said adding that people need to mask up to protect them from getting sick.
