ALARMING Covid rise in Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi: 10 Points

Three of the four mega metro cities of India - Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata - reported alarming jump in daily Coronavirus cases today. While Delhi and Mumbai saw a rise of 40 per cent, cases in Kolkata doubled in 24 hours. The scary rise in India's mega cities comes at a time of rising cases of Omicron - the latest, more transmissible variant of concern. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said this morning that Omicron has been found in 54 per cent of the latest samples.

Here are 10 points on rise in Covid cases in Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi.

1) The numbers: Mumbai reported 3,671 new cases, a daily rise of 46 per cent; Delhi reported 1,313 Covid cases, 42 per cent rise; Kolkata saw 1,090 case, 101 per cent rise.

2) Kolkata, ban on flights: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said that COVID-19 cases in Kolkata were rising as "it was a transit point for people travelling on trains and flights." The state later banned flights from Uttarakhand.

3) Delhi, four figures crossed after 7 months: The national capital crossed the mark of 1,000 daily cases after a month. The city reported 1,313 cases to be exact. Last such rise had come on May 26, the national capital had reported 1,491 cases with a positivity rate of 1.93 per cent and 130 deaths.

4) Mumbai, 5-fold increase in a week: The financial capital has seen a five-fold increase in cases in a week. Last Friday, the city had seen 'only' 683 cases. The number shot up to 3,671 today.

5) Deaths: One aspect that gives some relief is that no new death was recorded in any of the three cities. On contrary, when the cases were on rise during the second wave, all the three cities had seen multiple deaths on days they reported similar number of cases.

6) Overall cases go above 10,000: India reported more than 10,000 daily new Covid cases after 33 days. Health Ministry and ICMR, in a presser, said that there is a need for heightened vigil in view of sharp increase in cases.

7) States of concerns: Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Karnataka, Gujarat have been marked as states/UTs of concern on basis of weekly COVID-19 cases and positivity

8) Study on immunity: A study has found durability of immunity post COVID-19 infection persists for about nine months, the centre said.

9) A warning: Use of masks before and after vaccination is a must and mass gatherings should be avoided. The treatment guidelines for the earlier and the currently circulating strains of coronavirus remain the same. Home isolation remains an important pillar.

10) Country's vaccination status: India's 90% adult population has been administered the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, while 63.5% of the population are now fully vaccinated.