Is India seeing another Covid wave?

By Rachel V. Thomas
New Delhi, April 3 While India has seen the sharpest rise in Covid cases since the third wave in January 2022, experts on Monday opined that the current surge in infections is only "mild" but a "cause for concern" too.

India on Monday reported 3,641 infections, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. On Saturday, it reported 3,824 new Covid-19 infections the biggest single-day rise in about 184 days.

Last week, the country had seen a surge with 18,450 fresh cases, a substantial rise from the previous week's 8,781 cases.

The Omicron variant XBB.1.16 is believed to be behind the sudden surge of the cases.

"The new variant along with other factors, which include a decrease in Covid appropriate behaviour and a change in weather makes us more susceptible to respiratory conditions. We might see a mild wave happening, but by and large it will be mild and cause mild disease, not severe and not really result in hospitalisations," Dr Randeep Guleria - Chairman, Institute of Internal Medicine and Respiratory & Sleep Medicine and Director-Medical Education, Medanta, told .

"With the introduction of every new variant, there could be a transient surge in the number of cases. The current scenario is another such surge. While we dont expect another wave, however, we need to be careful and vigilant in monitoring the variants, mutations, and trends in the number of cases," added Dr Rohit Kumar Garg, Consultant, Department of Infectious Diseases, Amrita Hospital, Faridabad.

Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for the Covid response at the World Health Organisation

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