India reports 5,676 new covid cases, 21 deaths in a day
1 min read . Updated: 11 Apr 2023, 02:51 PM IST
PremiumIndia reports 5,676 new COVID-19 cases and 21 deaths in the last 24 hours, with the number of cases doubling every 4-5 days. The XBB.1.16 variant is responsible for the current surge but is said to be milder, and Indians have hybrid immunity due to vaccination and natural exposure. The health ministry urges people to complete their vaccination doses and follow a risk assessment-based approach to prevent and contain the infection. Over 220.66 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far.
New Delhi: India recorded 5,676 new covid-19 cases and 21 deaths in the last 24 hours, the union health ministry update showed on Tuesday. The total number of active cases stood at 37,093.
The country has recorded 44.9 million cases and 531,000 deaths so far.
According to epidemiologists, the increasing number of covid cases is now doubling every 4-5 days and this has now led to the country reporting over 5,000 covid cases each day.
Scientists have said that the XBB.1.16 variant of coronavirus is responsible for the current surge in cases. But in a relief, the infection is supposed to be milder in nature and may not lead to a rise in hospitalisation rate as Indians have likely developed hybrid immunity due to vaccination and natural exposure to the disease. The Centre, however, has urged people to wear masks in crowded places and complete their vaccination doses.
The union health ministry has directed the states and union territories to follow a risk assessment-based approach to prevent and contain the infection. The ministry has advised state governments to examine the covid-19 situation at micro level (district and sub-districts) and maintain focus on implementation of necessary measures for prompt and effective management of covid-19 duly ensuring effective compliance.
“The five-fold strategy, i.e., Test-Track Treat-Vaccination should be followed with continued focus on adequate & proactive testing as per guidelines, monitoring new and emerging clusters of new Covid-19 cases along with monitoring the trend of Influenza-like illness (ILI) & SARI cases in all health facilities or through dedicated fever clinics on a regular basis for detecting early warning signals of the spread of infection," the health ministry stated as there are few states which are reporting higher number of cases indicating possible localized spread of infection.
Covid cases have been increasing gradually across the country with Karnataka reporting 1673 active cases, Kerala 1,3745 active cases, Maharashtra 4,667 cases, Gujarat 1,932 cases, Delhi 2,338 cases, Tamil Nadu 2,099 active cases and Himachal Pradesh 1,762 cases so far.
Around 4,42,00,079 people have recovered from the infection with the current recovery rate touching 98.76%.
Under the covid vaccination drive, more than 220.66 crore vaccine doses have been administered to the people across the country so far. In the last 24 hours, around 358 vaccine doses were administered.