Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya is expected to chair a high-level meeting on Friday to discuss the Covid situation amid rising cases. The virtual meeting will be held with state health ministers and NTGAI (National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation) officials.
The meeting comes on a day when India logged 6,050 fresh coronavirus cases, recording the highest jump in infections in over 200 days. The Union health ministry data stated that the active cases have increased to 28,303.
The major contributors to India’s surging Covid graph are Kerala, Delhi and northern states like Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. These states have seen a sharp surge in the last few days.
Kerala’s single day tally zoomed to 1,912 cases on Thursday, while six new coronavirus reported from Maharashtra, two from Karnataka, one each in Kerala and Punjab.
Comparing nearly a week’s data, a Times of India report stated that the seven-day average of daily cases continues to double in seven days. In the past week (March 30-April 5), India reported 26,361 fresh cases, double the number reported in the previous seven days (13,274). Deaths in the last seven day totalled 48, up from 38 in the preceding period, the report stated.
“There isn’t any significant increase in the hospitalisation rate yet. However, we have issued an advisory to the states to keep the hospitals ready to deal with any emergency,” TOI quoted a Union health ministry official as saying. The officials in the central team said that they were constantly monitoring the situation.
States With High Cases
The report stated that cases have been “tripling” in the last seven days in places like Kerala which reported the highest number during this period. The southern state even displaced Maharashtra that logged 3,878 cases during the period (up 54% from the previous week).
Delhi is third on the Covid chart with 2,703 cases, which is a 2.3-fold rise from the the preceding seven-day total of 1,190.
Next on the list is Gujarat with a count of 2,298 cases, nearly the same as the previous period that saw 2,226 infections. In this western state, a distinct slowing down of the spread of infections was seen.
However, an area of concern is the northern region, where Himachal Pradesh reported 1,768 cases in the last seven days, a 2.25-fold increase from the earlier seven-day total of 786.
With summers hitting north India and people heading to the hill state to beat the heat, the numbers may continue to see a rise in the coming months, if not controlled. The India Meteorological Department has already predicted that the temperature will rise above normal levels during May and June. Hence, it becomes even more necessary to mask up while venturing in public places.
Meanwhile, Haryana too is among the top ‘surge’ states with 1,176 cases, which is a 2.5-fold rise, while Uttar Pradesh registered 800 cases, which is 2.2-fold rise in seven days.
Covid Variant You Need to Beware Of
According to the latest INSACOG bulletin, the newly emerged recombinant coronavirus variant XBB.1.16 accounts for 38.2 per cent of the infections in India till date.
The bulletin of March 27, which was released on Thursday, said among the samples collected till the third week of March 2023, XBB continued to be the most commonly circulating Omicron sublineages.
Noting that Omicron and its sublineages continue to be the dominant variants in India, the bulletin said an increase in infection rate has been observed, especially in western, southern and northern parts of India.
The bulletin further said a few BA.2.10 and BA.2.75 sublineage was detected in some part of the country whereas XBB was the most prevalent sublineage of the Omicron variant.
The INSACOG said globally, nearly 3.7 million new cases and 26,000 deaths have been reported in the last 28 days. During the week nine of the year 2023, there has been a continued increasing trend in the proportions of recombinant lineages globally, it said.
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