Hyderabad: Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IIT-H)’s COVID-19 tracker has predicted a massive peak of 150,000 cases in India by the January-February period of 2022.
As per its data-based epidemiological modelling, it puts the best-case scenario at 100 lakh Omicron cases, with an intermediate scenario at around 125 lakh.
The COVID-19 tracker also predicts that cases will subside towards the end of March 2022 if at all the Omicron wave occurs as predicted by the model.
IIT Hyderabad is a member of the SUTRA Consortium which has created the covid19tracker.in website. SUTRA stands for Susceptible, Undetected, Tested (positive), and Removed Approach. This tracker will provide non stop, updated data on all facets of the COVID-19 pandemic to researchers, students and the public.
The Union Government on Friday said 25 cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus have been detected in India so far and that mostly mild symptoms have been noted in all the cases.
At a joint press briefing on the pandemic, the government said 25 cases of the Omicron variant have been reported in India — 10 in Maharashtra, nine in Rajasthan, three in Gujarat, two in Karnataka, and one in Delhi.
Certain features of the Omicron variant, including its global spread and large number of mutations, suggest it could have a major impact on the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, said the chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Thursday.
It’s also still premature to say that Omicron could result in a significant reduction in vaccine effectiveness, according to WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan.