Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the nation to be vigilant after the Omicron coronaviruses spread through India. The chief minister of the capital region of Delhi introduced night curfews, shut down movie theaters, and slashed restaurants and public transport.
Both men hit the campaign trail, often appearing without masks.
When it is our bread and butter at stake, they force restrictions and lockdowns, said a taxi driver in New Delhi. There are bigger crowds at political rallies, but they don't impose a curfew. It really hurts us.
The country has been hit by a rapid spread of new infections due to Omicron and the frustration of mixed signals.
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A coronaviruses care center is in New Delhi.
The Delta variant ravaged the country a few months ago, when government leaders vastly underestimated its threat and publicly ignored their own advice. The memories of overwhelmed hospitals and funeral pyres are still fresh here.
The city of Mumbai reported more than 15,000 new infections in a single day, beating the previous daily record of 11,000 cases. The number of daily infections in New Delhi increased by 100 percent overnight.
India has a population of more than one billion, which has kept experts wary of a new coronaviruses variant. In India, the toll of Delta was as stark as anywhere else. The official figures show about half a million deaths from the H1N1 flu.
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The Chennai Trade Center in Chennai has a temporary coronaviruses care facility.
Omicron has a high transmissibility that makes it hard to get a vaccine, and it seems to be ignoring India's main line of defense: a vaccination drive that has covered half of the population. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been used for about 90 percent of India's vaccinations, does not protect against Omicron infections, though it appears to help reduce the severity of the illness.
The reproduction rate of the virus is an indicator of how fast it is spreading in major cities like Delhi and Mumbai, according to a research done by a professor of physics and computational biology at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Chennai. Most of their adult populations have been vaccined after they had a large number of infections in the spring.
He said that unless something is done to stop the spread, large numbers are likely.
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A large election rally is taking place in Ferozepur on Wednesday.
The officials seem to be taking the optimism of the early indications from places like South Africa, where a fast spread of the variant did not cause devastating damage.
Dr. Krishnan said India's messaging of the new variant as a mild illness has led to complacency.
The health system is no longer being lulled into a false sense of security. The population is not worried. Dr. Krishnan said that people are not wearing masks. They think it is a mild illness, and that the restrictions are a nuisance.
Scientists say that optimism about Omicron is premature because of how many people the variant could affect.
The total population we are talking about is huge, even if it is a tiny percentage who need hospitalization.
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There is a vaccine center in Bangalore. About half of the population has been covered by India's vaccination drive.
The data from India's worst-hit cities showed that only a small number of beds were occupied so far. According to data compiled by the Observer Research Foundation, about three percent of active cases in Delhi and 12 percent in Mumbai require hospitalization.
The president of The Indian Medical Association said that he was worried about the health system not having enough hospital beds or oxygen, but that it might face an acute shortage.
The number of Indian doctors who have died from Covid-19 has gone up. Health workers are tired. Tens of thousands of doctors called off a strike because they were too tired to work. Hundreds of doctors and medical workers have tested positive in recent days, according to reports.
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Hindu devotees at a religious gathering.
A lot of positive cases have been reported. They will not be available for work. The problem with mild infections is that they may not go to a major hospital for admission, but they will still go to their family doctor or a general doctor, putting those doctors at risk of infections.
The Omicron wave is spreading in India at a time of high public activity, with several states going to the polls in the coming months.
The state of 200 million people run by a Modi supporter is the location of large rallies held by the Prime Minister and his lieutenants.
Mr. Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi and a prominent opposition leader, has been a frequent figure at rallies. He is trying to expand his small party in several states that are up for elections this year. He continued to campaign in those states despite putting Delhi under restrictions.
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The chief minister of the capital region of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, was in Amritsar last month.
A day after a large rally in the state of Uttarakhand where Mr. Kejriwal appeared on stage without a mask, he had some bad news to share.
He said that he had tested positive for Covid. Those who came in contact with me in the last few days should be isolated.
The instructions to Delhi residents were put out on the party's Facebook page.
The war against corona continues, it said. There is a weekEND CuRFEW announced in Delhi.
Hari Kumar reported.
