Omicron: States have been asked to be prepared for a sharp rise in patients.New Delhi: States have been asked to set up makeshift hospitals and form special teams, the central government said on Saturday amid a nationwide alarm over a surge in coronavirus cases driven largely by the highly infectious Omicron variant of COVID-19.India on Saturday reported 22,775 new COVID-19 infections over the past 24 hours, health ministry data shows, adding to concerns for authorities around the country about the rising number of cases.The data indicates that thickly populated metros, such as the national capital New Delhi, financial centre Mumbai and Kolkata, are seeing some of the sharpest rises.India witnessed a devastating second wave of COVID-19 last year when the daily average number of new cases peaked at around 400,000.Caseloads had dropped significantly since then. For many months the national tally remained well under 10,000 cases a day.Now, officials and medical experts fear the Omicron variant might fuel a third wave of the disease.