Case numbers have jumped in recent weeks owing to the highly infectious Omicron strain but rates have slowed in recent days and the health ministry last week said there were indications of a plateau in virus cases in several parts of the country. Experts said the Omicron wave would not cause many deaths or hospitalisations, but several states imposed restrictions on movement and have only now started easing them. Many analysts believe India actually reached the 500,000-death mark last year when it was hit by a devastating rise in Delta variant cases that brought its health care system close to collapse.
The wave caused at least 200,000 deaths as hospitals ran out of oxygen and patients scrambled desperately to source medicines.
