India records nearly 1,900 new daily COVID-19 cases, 7 deaths
What's the story
India recorded nearly 1,900 new daily COVID-19 cases on Saturday—the highest in 149 days—the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry revealed on Sunday. The country witnessed an increase of 300 cases from the previous day, triggering fresh concerns among the public and authorities. Active cases went up to 9,433, and the death toll rose to 5,30,831, with seven fatalities in the last 24 hours.
Context
Why does this story matter?
Over the last several days, India's daily coronavirus cases have steadily increased. The XBB 1.16 subvariant of Omicron is behind the recent spike in COVID-19 cases, according to experts. The increase in COVID-19 infections also coincides with a significant rise in H3N2 influenza cases across the country, leading the Health Ministry to issue an alert to states and union territories earlier.
Tally
India's active COVID-19 cases rose to 9,433
With fresh infections, India's active COVID-19 cases have now reached 9,433, representing 0.02% of total infections, with a mortality rate of 1.19%. According to the Health Ministry data, the country's daily positivity rate is at 1.56%, while the weekly positivity rate stood at 1.29%. With the 1,890 new cases added on Saturday, India's total number of COVID-19 cases has reached 4,47,04,147.
Recovery
1,051 fresh recoveries reported, recovery rate at 98.79%
As per official data, 1,051 people recovered from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours bringing the total tally to 4,41,63,883 and the national recovery rate to 98.79%. The death toll reached 5,30,831 with seven fresh fatalities: two each in Maharashtra and Gujarat and three reconciled by Kerala. Also, 92.09 crore COVID-19 tests have been conducted so far, including 1,21,147 in the past 24 hours.
Information
Pandemic scenario in the country
COVID-19 cases are reportedly increasing gradually across the country. Karnataka has 683 active cases, whereas Kerala has 2,311. There are 1,956 active cases in Maharashtra and 1,529 in Gujarat. There are 471 active cases in Delhi, 582 in Tamil Nadu, and 149 in Telangana.
Experts
Subvariant XBB 1.16 blamed for fresh COVID-19 spike
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 subvariant XBB 1.16 was blamed for the recent surge in cases by healthcare experts and the Health Ministry, too. The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) previously disclosed that 76 samples of the XBB 1.16 subvariant were found in India. The country also has reported the most XBB 1.16 cases in the world so far, closely followed by the United States (US).
Recent news
Centre planning nationwide drill to check COVID-19 preparedness in April
Amid the rising COVID-19 and seasonal influenza cases, the Centre is planning to hold a nationwide mock drill on April 10 and 11 to take stock of hospital preparedness, reported PTI. Both public and private health facilities in all districts will participate in the exercise aimed at reviewing the availability of medicines, hospital beds, medical equipment, and medical oxygen, among others.