The current rise in Covid cases is being driven by XBB.1.16, which is a sub-variant of Omicron and has taken India’s corona situation to an endemic phase. Official sources said on Wednesday that this would result in an increase in the case load for the next 10-12 days, after which they would come down. Sources said that even though cases are rising, hospitalizations are low and are expected to remain low.
While omicron and its sub-lineages remain the dominant variant, most assigned variants have little or no significant transmissibility, disease severity, or immune defense. The prevalence of XBB.1.16 increased from 21.6 percent in February to 35.8 percent in March this year.
However, no evidence of increase in hospitalization or mortality has been found, official sources said.
India has reported a single-day increase of 7,830 new coronavirus infections, the highest in 223 days, and the number of active cases in the country has risen to 40,215. The death toll due to the disease has risen to 5,31,016 with 16 new deaths being recorded – two each in Delhi, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and one each in Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh , and five have been matched. Kerala. The number of Covid cases in the country has been recorded at 4.47 crore (4,47,76,002), it showed.