Srinagar, Dec 18: Jammu and Kashmir reported 151 fresh covid-19 cases even as one person succumbed to the virus in the last 24 hours, officials said on Saturday.
42 of the fresh cases were reported from Jammu Division and 109 from Kashmir, taking the overall tally to 333722.
There one death reported from Jammu division due to the virus during the last 24 hours, they said. So far 4511 persons—2194 in Jammu and 4510 in Kashmir—have died due to the virus, they said.
Giving district wise details of the fresh cases, the officials said that Srinagar reported 55 cases, Baramulla 17, Budgam 9, Pulwama 2, Kupwara 7, Anantnag 1, Bandipora 6, Ganderbal 12, Kulgam 0, Shopian 0, Jammu 17, Udhampur 1, Rajouri 2, Doda 2, Kathua 0, Samba 0, Kishtwar 1, Poonch 0, Ramban 4 and Reasi 15.
A number of these case were confirmed at CD hospital’s diagnostic centre and include male (05) (NA) from Bangam Langate, female (17) (NA) from Bangam Langate, male (25) (NA) from Dolipora, male (70) (NA) from Kangan, female (21) (NA) from Yaripora kulgam, male (28) (NA) from Hajin Bandipora, male (22) (NA) from Hajin Bandipora, male (70) (NA) from Gupkar nishat, male (65) (NA) from Drach pulwama, female (60) from Pulwama, male (38) (NA) from Athwajan, female (30) (NA) from Hyderpora sgr, male (70) (NA) from Sgr, male (70) (NA) from Hazratbal, female (35) (NA) from Sgr, male (70) (NA) from Sgr, and male (60) (NA) from Humhama.
Moreover, 140 Covid-19 patients recovered during the time, 45 from Jammu Division and 95 from Kashmir, they said.
So far 333722 patients have recovered, leaving active case tally at 1458—361 in Jammu and 1097 in Kashmir.
They said there was no new confirmed case of mucormycosis (black fungus) reported today. So far 50 black fungus cases have been confirmed in J&K, the officials said. They also informed that 53799 doses of covid-19 vaccine were administered during the time in J&K.
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‘3rd wave in India likely to peak in Feb’
New Delhi: Daily Covid-19 caseload in India that is currently around 7,500 infections is expected to increase once the Omicron starts displacing Delta as the dominant variant, informed members of the National Covid-19 Supermodel Committee and predicted the third wave in India early year.
Vidyasagar, who is also the head of the National Covid-19 Supermodel Committee, said that India will have Omicron’s third wave but it will be milder than the second wave.
“Third wave is likely to arrive early next year in India. It should be milder than the second wave due to a large-scale immunity present in the country now. There will definitely be a third wave. Right now, we are at around 7,500 cases per day which is sure to go up once Omicron starts displacing Delta as the dominant variant,” he said.
Vidyasagar, who is also a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Hyderabad, said that it’s unlikely that India will see more daily cases than the second wave.
“It is extremely unlikely that the third wave will see more daily cases than the second wave. Please remember that the Government of India started vaccinating ordinary Indians (i.e., other than front-line workers) only starting March 1, which was just about the time that the Delta variant hit. So the Delta variant hit a population that was 100 per cent vaccine-naive, other than the frontline workers.”
He further said that according to a sero-survey, a tiny fraction is left that hasn’t come into contact with delta virus. “Now we have sero-prevalence of 75 per cent to 80 per cent (prior exposure), first dose for 85 per cent of adults, both doses for 55 per cent of adults, and a “reach” for the pandemic of 95 per cent (meaning that only a tiny fraction of the public has not come into contact with the virus).”
“So the third wave will not see as many as daily cases as the second wave. We have also built up our capacity based on that experience, so we should be able to cope without difficulty,” he said.
Explaining further, the IIT professor said that the number of cases would depend on two factors, each of which is unknown at present. “First, what is the extent to which Omicron bypasses natural immunity obtained by prior exposure to Delta,” he said
Citing the second reason, he said, “Second, what is the extent to which Omicron bypasses the immunity conferred by vaccination. Because these are not known, we have generated various “scenarios,” assuming (for example) 100 per cent vaccine protection remains, or only 50 per cent remains, or all of it goes away. The same for natural immunity escape. For each scenario, we project the number of cases that could result.”
