In what appears to be the third wave of COVID-19 in India, cases increased around 3-fold in the week ending Sunday, in comparison with the previous seven days, recording an unprecedented surge of 181% over the period.

The country registered around 1.3 lakh new infections during the week from December 27 to January 2, recording a 12-week high, compared to 46,073 cases recorded in the previous week. This is the sharpest weekly rise in infections thus far, since the onset of the pandemic in the country. The previous highest surge was at 71% recorded from April 5-11, 2021, during the second wave. On Sunday, the country logged 33,703 new COVID-19 cases, with data still awaited from two states, showing a 21% surge over the previous days tally of 27,747 cases, according to TOI’s COVID database… (TOI – TNN, January 3, 2022)