India managed Omicron surge better than others, says Health Ministry

The Union Health Ministry on Thursday said that global COVID-19 case surge due to the Omicron variant led to a peak six times the previous waves but India managed to control its spread causing lower hospitalisation and fewer deaths than earlier surges.

"India managed Omicron surge much better than other countries. Today, 15-17 lakh cases are being reported globally but India is reporting around 3000 daily cases," Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health, said during a press briefing, reported news agency ANI.

With 3,536 cases reported on an average in the week ending March 15, India contributed to only 0.21 per cent of global cases, the Union health ministry said.

It pointed out that many countries are still experiencing a rise in cases which is higher than their previous surges.

"Not only the reported peak in India was much lower, the consistent efforts also led to a decreasing trajectory soon. The country managed the Omicron surge much better than others," a health ministry official during a presentation at a webinar on India's Public Health Response to Manage COVID-19, reported PTI.

With 2,539 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 4,30,01,477, while the active cases have declined to 30,799, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Thursday.

The death toll has climbed to 5,16,132 with 60 daily fatalities, the data showed. The active cases constitute 0.07 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has further improved to 98.73 per cent, the health ministry said.

(With inputs from Agencies)

Published on: Thursday, March 17, 2022, 12:35 PM IST