Omicron: India could report 14 lakh COVID-19 cases daily

New Delhi, Dec 18: With the number of Omicron cases rising in India, Niti Aayog member Dr. V K Paul said that the situation is worrisome and compared the spread of the infection in Europe to the population of India.

Addressing a press conference, Dr. Paul said that if we look at the scale of spread in the UK and if there is a similar outbreak in India, then given our population, there will be 14 lakh cases every day.

He said that the Omicron is believed to behind the spread but this is still an emerging and expected scenario and the government is keeping an eye on the developments. It is being said that the Omicron strain causes mild infection.

"Genome sequencing of every sample is not possible. It is a surveillance and pandemic assessment and tracking tool, not a diagnostic tool as of now. We can assure sufficient systematic sampling is being undertaken," Dr. Paul said.

In India, as many as 113 cases of Omicron, the new variant of COVID-19 have been reported so far.

Maharashtra leads the tally with 40 cases, followed by Delhi which has 22 such cases. Rajasthan has 17 cases while Karnataka and Gujarat have 8 each, followed by Kerala at 7 and Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Chandigarh with one case each.