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

Speaking to reporters here, Salkar 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.

"Goa has not reached its peak yet vis a vis infections. Positivity is at around 30 per cent. The Omicron wave in Goa is going to be three to four times more than the Delta wave. Infectivity is high. Expectation is that over the next 10 days, maybe by January 20, we will be seeing around 10 to 15000 cases per day. After that new cases will come down," Salkar said.

"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 20thA(Jan). We may see 10 to 15000 new cases everyday," 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.

Goa currently has 14,134 active cases, while the state reported 3,539 new cases on Wednesday.