Covid graph goes up, active cases past 1,600 in Himachal Pradesh

Subhash Rajta

Tribune News Service

Shimla, January 6

Political rallies, Christmas and New Year celebrations seem to have triggered the resurgence of Covid-19 in the state. From a low of 344 active cases recorded on December 27, the count has gone up to 1,655 in just 10 days.

The Covid graph had been going down consistently in the state until December 27 – the number of active cases had slipped to 344 in the state, the lowest in the past several months. A day later, the Covid graph took an upward turn, with the active cases rising to 370. The sudden upward turn continued over the next few days and the tally on Thursday stood at 1,655 cases.

Along with the number of active cases, the positivity rate, too, has been rising fast. On December 27, the positivity rate was less than 0.57 per cent; on January 5, when 358 positive cases were reported, the positivity rate jumped past five per cent. On Thursday, the positivity rate had risen to 6.9 per cent with 481 cases recorded in the day.

While just one omicron case has been reported so far in the state, experts feel the latest variant could be the reason for Covid’s resurgence in the state. “If you see the data from across the country, 70 to 80 per cent cases are omicron related. So, yes, there’s a possibility of omicron being behind the latest spike,” said Dr Malay Sarkar, a member of the state Covid clinical committee.

“And given that hospitalisation has not increased much despite the spike in cases, the possibility of omicron driving the spurt becomes stronger,” said Dr Sarkar. 

Omicron may have caused the surge

If you see the data from across the country, 70 to 80 per cent cases are omicron related. So, yes, there’s a possibility of omicron being behind the latest spike. — Dr Malay Sarkar, member of state covid clinical committee

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