There has been no let up in the Covid cases in the last few days with the new infection in India zoom past 5,000 for the first time this year as over 5,500 incidents were reported on Thursday 8 am as per the Union Health Ministry data. This is the highest single day rise since September 23.
Alert at this uptick which is over 20 per cent over the previous day and some States reporting high positivity rate, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandivaya is planning a a review meeting on Friday to take stock of the Covid situation across the country.
Active cases went up by 2,496 and recoveries by 2,826. The total active cases in the country stood at 25,587. Among the states, Kerala had 8,229 active cases, Delhi 1,795 and Maharashtra 3,874. The death toll increased by 13 - two each reported from Karnataka and Maharashtra, one each from Kerala and Punjab, and seven reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated. The daily positivity rate has been recorded at 3.32 per cent while the weekly positivity rate has been pegged at 2.89 per cent, said the statement from the Ministry.
Among the states, Kerala saw a rise of 1,404 in daily active cases, after taking the recoveries into account. Himachal Pradesh reported 212 rise in daily active cases and Tamil Nadu 130. According to the ministry's website, 220.66 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered so far under the nationwide vaccination drive. The Omicron variant XBB.1.16 is believed to be behind the sudden surge of covid cases in India. The World Health Organization is closely tracking the covid subvariant XBB.1.16, It had on March 22 added XBB.1.16 to its list of variants under monitoring.
Dr Jugal Kishore, Professor and HOD of the Community Medicine, Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi asserted while there was no need to panic, the elders and those with co-morbidities such as respiratory illness, heart diseases and diabetes should be extra cautious. Also focus should be on enhancing immunity as well as adopting Covid appropriate behavior to be on the safer side, he said.