With Delhi and Maharashtra recording sharp surge in Covid cases, the total caseload is likely to cross 15,000 mark on Thursday against 13,000 reported a day ago.
As per the Government data, Delhi on Thursday reported 1,934 new Covid cases, almost double from the day before. The national Capital’s active cases tally was recorded at 5,755, while the test positivity rate (TPR) was recorded at 8.10 per cent. Maharashtra reported 5,218 new cases of Covid-19, a jump of almost 60 per cent from the day before when the State had reported 3,260 infections.
Mumbai had also recorded a jump of 50 per cent in fresh infections, as the metropolitan on Thursday recorded 2,479 new cases. On Wednesday, the financial Capital had recorded 1,648 cases.
Meanwhile, causing concern, a June 21 report of Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG) says that 44 samples from Bengaluru sent for genome sequencing between June 2 and June 9 were found to be infected with BA.3, BA.4 and BA.5 sub-lineages of Covid variant Omicron.
India’s total tally of Covid-19 cases has touched more than 4,33,44,958, while the active cases crossed 83,990, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday. The death toll has climbed to 5,24,941 with 38 new fatalities.
Concerned at the rising cases, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya directed officials to continue to focus on surveillance and whole genome sequencing to scan any possible mutations while stressing on adequate testing and effective monitoring to assess the spread of infection in a timely manner.
Mandaviya, who chaired a meeting with key experts and officials amid an upsurge of Covid-19 cases in some States, stressed the need to focus on districts reporting high case positivity and undertake adequate testing (with higher proportion of RT-PCR) and effective surveillance to assess and control the spread of the infection in a timely manner, the Ministry said in a statement.
Mandaviya directed officials to continue to focus on surveillance and on whole genome sequencing (WGS) to scan for any possible mutation, it said.
He also directed officials to monitor hospitalizations due to Covid-19, and SARI/ILI cases, the statement stated. He exhorted them to increase the pace of vaccination, including booster doses, in districts reporting high cases.
“As there are adequate vaccine doses available, let there be no vaccine wastage while focusing on accelerating vaccination among the eligible and vulnerable groups,” he said.
The active cases comprise 0.19 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.60 per cent, the ministry said.
An increase of 2,303 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.03 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 2.81 per cent, according to the ministry The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,27,36,027, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.21 per cent.
According to the Ministry, 196.62 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive.
The 38 new fatalities include 20 from Kerala, four from Uttar Pradesh, three each from Delhi and Maharashtra, two each from Punjab and West Bengal and one each from Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Mizoram.
