India sees a decline in daily Covid-19 cases with 10,000 new infections today

India has reported a huge downfall in daily Covid-19 cases as the country logged 10,112 fresh coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday. 

With this, the country's active caseload has gone up to 67, 806. 

The health ministry data shows that a total of 4,42,92,854 persons have been recovered from the coronavirus infection, while 5,31,329 people have recovered from Covid-19 since the pandemic began in India. 

With the uptick in the trend of Covid cases, scientists said that XBB.1.16 is the Covid-19 variant responsible for the present surge in Covid cases. However, scientists say that people in India have developed hybrid immunity (due to vaccination and natural infection). 

Therefore, the present Covid-19 variants will not cause a lot of hospitalization and severity as it is mild in nature. However, the government has suggested people wear masks in crowded places and complete their vaccination doses if not done yet.

Meanwhile, the union health ministry directed the state and union territory governments to follow a risk assessment-based approach to prevent and contain the infection. 

The health ministry advised the state governments to examine the situation of Covid-19 at a micro level (district and sub-districts) and maintain focus on the implementation of necessary measures for prompt and effective management of Covid-19 duly ensuring effective compliance.

The government has asked the states to follow the strategy of testing, tracking, treating, and vaccinating.

Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan has also written to eight states, witnessing rising numbers of covid-19 cases, to boost surveillance measures and improve hospital infrastructure.

In a letter to Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, and Haryana, Bhushan emphasized that the pandemic was far from over and that controlling the spread of infection was crucial.

The health secretary instructed the states to closely monitor Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) and Influenza-like Illness (ILI) trends, increase testing, submit more samples for genome sequencing, and promote precautionary doses.