Covid Cases on the Rise but Not in Hospitalisation or Death Rates: Govt
NEW DELHI, Mar 23: Despite a sudden rise in the number of positive Corona cases during the last few days, there had been no alarming increase reported in the cases of hospitalisation or in the death rate so far, the union health ministry said on Thursday.
It said the XBB.1.16 sub-variant of Omicron might be the dominant virus strain in the country but there has been no reported increase in the rate of hospitalisation or death so far.
Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said 344 samples have tested positive in the last three months – January, February and March – for XBB.1.16 after whole genome sequencing. The sub-variant has been found in states such as Maharashtra (105), Telangana (93), Karnataka (57), Gujarat (54) and Delhi (19).
“Omicron and its sub-lineages continue to be the predominant variant. No evidence of an increase in hospitalisation and/or mortality has been reported,” Mr Bhushan said. He said XBB.1.5 and XBB.1.16 are variants of interest and under intense scientific scrutiny but they are not a “cause of immediate concern.”
India has reported an uptick in daily coronavirus cases over the past week. Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala and Karnataka are among the states reporting a rise in the cases, according to the Health Ministry.
On Thursday, the Health Ministry data showed the country recorded 1,300 new coronavirus cases, the highest in 140 days. It showed that the active cases in the country have increased to 7,605. On March 13, India reported 444 new Covid-19 cases when the active cases stood at 3,809.
Following the rise in cases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a high-level meeting on Wednesday to review the Covid situation and took stock of public health preparedness. Bhushan said SARS-CoV-2, which causes the coronavirus disease, was changing over time like any other virus by acquiring mutations or by recombination.
As the virus becomes endemic, it generates a large number of variants and since the emergence of Omicron in 2021, close to 1,000 of its lineages have been assigned, which include approximately 100 recombinant variants, he said.
Most of the assigned variants have very little or no significant impact on the functional attribute of the virus like increased transmissibility, disease severity or immune escape etc, say experts. Only a few variants or sub-variants are designated as variants of concern (VOCs), variants of interest (VOIs) or sub-variants under monitoring (SUMs) based on scientific evidence on their transmissibility, disease severity or immune escape properties, they say.
(Manas Dasgupta)
