Over 800 new Covid-19 cases recorded in India after 126 days

With this, the number of active cases in the country has now climbed to 5,389. With 843 fresh infections reported, India’s caseload increased to 4,46,94,349. The death toll rose to 5,30,799 with four fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

One death each was reported in Jharkhand and Maharashtra, while two were reconciled by Kerala.

At 5,839, the active cases now comprise 0.01 percent of the total infections. The national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.80 percent, according to the health ministry website.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,41,58,161 and the case fatality rate stands at 1.19 per cent.

According to the ministry’s website, 220.64 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered under the nationwide vaccination drive.

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With India reporting an uptick in covid cases over the last few weeks, the government has directed six states to examine the situation at micro level and maintain compliance like surveillance, testing and monitoring new and emerging covid clusters.

Meanwhile, as per news reports, the new variant XBB 1.16 is likely to cause the next coronavirus wave. The symptoms of this variant include fever, sore throat, cold, headache, body aches, and fatigue. It also might impact your digestive system and respiratory system.

“There are few states which are reporting higher number of cases indicating possible localized spread of infection and there’s a need to follow a risk assessment-based approach to prevent and contain the infection without losing the gains made so far in the fight against the pandemic,” said Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan.

Karnataka has reported an increase in weekly cases from 493 in the week ending 8 March to 604 cases in the week ending 15 March. The state reported a positivity rate of 2.77% which is higher than India’s positivity rate of 0.61% during the same period.

The ministry has further directed the states to continue genomic sequencing for prescribed samples of international passengers, collection of samples from sentinel sites (identified health facilities), and local clusters of cases, upscale the pace for administration of booster shot for all eligible beneficiaries and ensure that state must maintain a strict watch in any areas of concern to control emerging spread of infection.

(With inputs from agencies)