Omicron cases in India could be as many as seen during Delta wave: Expert

India may witness as many cases in the present Omicron-driven wave as it saw during the Delta surge, according to Dr Christopher Murray, Director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) and Chair of the Health Metrics Sciences at the University of Washington. 

Although the government has maintained that the country has tackled COVID-19 better than other nations, there are growing concerns abound as the case tally has surpassed the 50,000 mark again (on Tuesday). 

Dr Murray told India Today that while vaccination will keep the symptoms mild, Omicron will infect many people and no amount of curbs can stop that. 

Also Read: Omicron cases cross 1,000 mark in India; Maharashtra tops tally

He further stated that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 will cause three billion infections across the world in a span of just two months. 

"Amid this surge, India could see as many infections it saw during the Delta wave," Dr Murray noted. 
Forecasting that the peak of transmissions could be reached in mid-January, he said that this may amount to more than 35 million global infections a day, which is thrice the number seen during the Delta wave peak in April. 

"In India, the number of infections could peak late in January or early February," Dr Murray stated. 

Also Read: Omicron threat: Weekend curfew to be imposed in Delhi

"Reported cases will increase at a rate that is less than infections because we expect the much higher fraction of asymptomatic patients will lower the infection-detection rate," he said.  

Dr Murray stated that hospitalisations and deaths across the globe will be much fewer than the reported cases. 

He added that hospitalisations and deaths for the US will remain below the Delta-peak that was witnessed in September and well below the winter peaks seen in 2020-2021.