Amid concerns over sudden spike in COVID cases, Union Health Ministry said there is no evidence of any increase in “hospitalisation and mortality” but cautioned people that the threat of the pandemic is not over yet.
Addressing media in New Delhi about the COVID-19 situation in the country, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan informed that an average of 94,000 cases are being reported globally on a daily basis but in India, only 966 cases are being reported which accounts only one percent of total cases globally.
“From second week of February when only 108 cases were reported, the COVID number has jumped to 966 in the week ending March 23. It has increased but not unprecedented,” he said.
He further said eight states are witnessing spike in COVID-19 cases – Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh.
Bhushan said that the country has seen a spike in cases from the second week of last month due to which the positivity rate rose to one percent from 0.09 percent.
He said that elder and comorbid people should continue to maintain COVID appropriate behaviour and wear mask in crowded places.
Bhushan asked States to increase whole genome sequencing of positive samples. He also said that they will hold another pan-India mock drill soon to assess the COVID preparedness.
The Health Secretary informed that currently the circulating variants of COVID-19 in the country are the variants of Omicron. “More and more sub variants develop when pandemic approaches endemic phase… XBB1.5 and XBB 1.16 have been marked as variant of interest… Because scientific evidence shows it has more transmissibility,” he said.
He further informed that scientific evidences are being analysed to assess the severity of XBB 1.16 sub variant.
India has seen a significant decline in the number of COVID-19 cases during the past few months. However, a sudden rise in cases has been observed in the past few weeks specifically in certain parts of the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday chaired a high-level meeting to review the situation.
