Active COVID-19 Cases In India Cross 30,000 With Over 6,000 New Infections Added In Past 24 Hours

The COVID-19 spike in India continues, with 6,155 fresh infections being reported in the country in the past 24 hours.

As of Saturday morning, the number of active cases increased to 31,194, according to Union health ministry data.

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Positivity rate goes up

India's COVID-19 tally now stands at 4.47 crore (4,47,51,259). The death toll climbed to 5,30,954 with 11 deaths, including two reconciled by Kerala.

At 31,194, the active cases comprise 0.07 per cent of the total infections. According to the health ministry website, the national COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 98.74 per cent.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 5.63 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 3.47 per cent.

Maharashtra adds nearly 1000 cases

In Maharashtra, the daily cases are inching closer to the 1000 mark.

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In the past 24 hours, 926 new COVID cases and three deaths were reported in Maharashtra. Currently, there are 4,487 active COVID cases in the state.

Out of this, Mumbai alone accounted for 276 COVID-19 cases. This is the second straight day when the daily tally in the Maharashtra capital has crossed 200.

More than 700 cases in Delhi

In Delhi, the daily COVID-19 tally rose by more than 100 from the previous day as a total of 733 new cases and two deaths were in the past 24 hours.

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The COVID-19 positivity rate in the national capital currently stands at 19.93 per cent, according to a daily bulletin issued by the Delhi Health Department.

In the past 24 hours, Bihar registered the first COVID-19 death in the state in 2023.

Health Minister urges caution

Amid the spike in COVID-19 cases across India, Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya chaired a review meeting with states on Friday and asked them to stay alert and remain prepared for the management of the disease.

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Mandaviya further urged the State Health Ministers to conduct mock drills of all hospital infrastructure on April 10 and 11 and review the health preparedness with district administrations and health officials on April 8 and 9.

XBB.1.16 variant to become dominant strain

Meanwhile, a new study has claimed that the XBB.1.16 Omicron variant, which is behind the COVID surge in India and will also spread worldwide soon. XBB.1.16 has an effective reproductive number (Re) 1.27 and 1.17-fold higher, respectively, than XBB.1 & XBB.1.5, suggesting that it will spread worldwide in the near future.

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"At the end of March 2023, XBB.1.16, a SARS-CoV-2 omicron XBB subvariant, emerged and was detected in various countries. Compared to XBB.1.5, XBB.1.16 has two substitutions in the S protein: E180V is in the N-terminal domain, and T478K in the receptor-binding domain (RBD). We first show that XBB.1.16 had an effective reproductive number (Re) that was 1.27- and 1.17-fold higher than the parental XBB.1 and XBB.1.5, respectively, suggesting that XBB.1.16 will spread worldwide in the near future." the study stated.

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