Goa may see 15k Covid cases per day around January 20: Dr Shekhar Salkar

Goa may witness 10,000 to 15,000 cases per day when the third Covid wave will peak around January 20, said Dr Shekhar Salkar, a member of the Goa government's expert committee on Covid management.

Speaking to reporters here, Salkar said, "Its not yet the peak, its still halfway, yesterday we noticed 3000 plus fresh cases and the positivity rate is 30%. I think the Omicron wave in Goa is going to be three to four times more than the Delta wave. The infectivity is high and our expectations say that in the next 8 days by around 20 of this month, we will be seeing around 10k to 15k patients per day."

He also took positives in the plateauing of new infections in Maharashtra, saying that in terms of trends and patterns, Goa was 10 to 15 days behind the Mumbai infection cycle.

"Cases in Mumbai are plateauing over the last three days. The numbers there have not increased. We are around 10-15 days after Mumbai. By January 23-24, our cases may also climb down. But we will see a peak around 20th (Jan). We may see 10 to 15000 new cases every day," Salkar said, describing the next "seven to 10 day" period as a critical one.

"The next seven to ten-day period is most important for us. Even though it (third wave) is less lethal, there could still be pressure on admissions because doctors and sisters are getting infected. We need to take precautions, wear masks, maintain social distancing, sanitisation, etc," he said.

On Thursday, Goa reported 3,728 fresh Covid-19 cases, while the case positivity rate stands at 39.41 per cent.