India on Friday reported 117,100 new Covid-19 cases — the highest daily rise in nearly seven months, as it battles a surge in cases driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant that is threatening to put a strain on medical resources.
India’s capital, Delhi, reported 15,097 new cases, the highest since May 8, according to state health bulletins. Financial capital Mumbai reported 20,181 new cases — the second consecutive day of record cases.
At least 313 resident doctors have tested positive for Covid-19 across four hospitals in Mumbai, according to Dr. Avinash Yadav of the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors.
“We were already overworked with only 66% of resident doctors working in hospitals and now a lot of us are infected. Our health care infrastructure is suffering,” Yadav said Friday.
For months, resident doctors have protested the delay in allocating hospitals to an incoming batch of doctors, which the Indian Medical Association had said led to a shortage of 45,000 doctors on the frontline.
“Those of us who are mild and asymptomatic are still continuing to work in Covid wards, but taking every precaution to ensure we don’t infect patients,” Yadav said.
As of Thursday evening, Mumbai had nearly 6,000 Covid-19 patients in hospital with 16.8% of its hospital beds occupied — more than double from a week ago on December 31, according to local health bulletins.
Mumbai’s Dharavi slum reported 107 new cases on Thursday — the highest rise since the start of the pandemic, according to local administrative officials.
India has reported a total of 35,226,386 Covid-19 cases, including 483,178 related deaths, according to the Indian Ministry of Health. At least 3,007 cases of the Omicron variant have been reported across the country.
