No more Covid wave in India, ICMR big statement

The current spike in the number of daily Covid-19 cases the Indian council of Medical Research today said that recent data did not indicate the onset of a fourth wave of infections. No more Covid wave in India, ICMR big statement.

The welcome update comes amid a steady uptick in various parts of the world and the emergence of several new variants and recombinant strains. According to ICMR additional director general Dr Samiran Panda, recent trends only indicate localised spikes in some districts of India.

“What we’re seeing are blips and not the start of a new COVID-19 wave caused by a variant. These blips are currently restricted to certain geographies and not uniformly spread across the country, or a state,” he explained.

While many areas have indeed registered a rise in COVID-19 positivity rate – Delhi for example reported a positivity rate of 5.10% on Saturday – the official attributed these to reduced testing. Notably, the positivity rate in the national capital had risen to 7% towards the end of last month before dropping as testing was ramped up.

Positivity, he added, should be calculated when the test performance of an area was at an adequate level and it had achieved the prescribed number per defined population. While the ICMR as well as state and central officials have repeatedly insisted that there is no reason to panic at this time, many areas have brought back COVID-19 induced restrictions such as mask mandates.