Covid-19 cases see an uptick in India: active cases surpass 5,000 for first time in 109 days

A total of 98,727 tests were conducted on Thursday, the health ministry data stated, whereas 220.64 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.

With an increase in Covid-19 cases being reported along with the seasonal flu, the Union Health Secretary has written to six states — Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat — which account for most of the new cases.

In the letter sent on Thursday, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has asked the states to conduct adequate and proactive testing, monitor new clusters and influenza like illnesses, send samples of international travellers, sentinel sites and clusters for genomic sequencing. He has also asked the states to take steps to promote precaution doses and ensure people follow Covid-appropriate behaviour.

According to the letter, a sub-variant of the recombinant variant XBB was reported from both Maharashtra and Gujarat. The recombinant variant XBB, that combined two Omicron sub-variants BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75, was found in all the samples sequenced mid-February onwards, replacing other sub-variants like BA.2.75, BA.2.10 and BA.2, according to data from India’s Covid-19 genome sequencing consortium (INSACOG).

Meanwhile a new virus combination was discovered in two persons who had returned from abroad and landed at Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport, according to local media reports.  The virus is said to be a combination of BA.1 (Omicron) and BA.2 variants. The report also said that the patients were a couple in their thirties who contracted the infection from their infant.

With PTI inputs