The state governments are ramping up testing for Covid-19 and encouraging the increased use of masks and social distancing as the recent uptick in virus tally continues, with daily case count breaching record of nearly six months. India on Friday saw 3,095 fresh infections in 24 hours.
From Uttar Pradesh to Maharashtra and Delhi, hospitals have been put on alert. Saurabh Bharadwaj, health minister of the national capital, was reportedly told that the genome sequencing of samples has shown that the surge is driven by the XBB variant of the coronavirus and its sub-variants and there is no new variant.
India’s toll has risen to 5,30,867 with five deaths — one each reported by Goa and Gujarat and three reconciled by Kerala — in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am said.
The daily positivity was recorded at 2.61 per cent while the weekly positivity was pegged at 1.91 per cent. The total tally of Covid cases was recorded at 4.47 crore (4,47,15,786).
The active cases now comprise 0.03 per cent of the total infections while the national recovery rate has been recorded at 98.78 per cent, according to the ministry website. The data further stated that 220.65 crore Covid vaccine doses have been administered under the nationwide drive so far.
COVID SITUATION IN DELHI
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is monitoring the situation closely and will hold a review meeting on the matter on Friday. The state health minister has asked the people not to panic due to the high positivity rate, even as Delhi reported two Covid-related deaths.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Bharadwaj said they were getting some indicators about the spike in Covid cases but they are fully prepared.
“Last night, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal called me to discuss about the Covid situation and he asked me to convene an emergency meeting on Thursday. In the meeting , epidemiologist, genome sequencing expert, special secretary (health) were present and we analysed the situation closely,” he said.