India reports single-day rise of 3,016 covid cases

New Delhi: India reported 3,016 fresh covid-19 infections in the last 24 hours, pushing up the daily positivity rate to 1.51%, the Union health ministry said in an update on Thursday. Active cases have risen to 13,509.

Total reported cases now stand at 4.47 crore and death toll has increased to 5,30,862. Active cases comprise 0.03% of total infections, while the recovery rate stands at 98.78%, according to the health ministry’s website.

The trajectory of covid cases have been on an upswing over the last few weeks. As of now, Karnataka has 907 active cases, Kerala has 3,389 active cases, Maharashtra has 2,506, Gujarat has 2,136 cases, Delhi 671, Tamil Nadu 689 active cases, and Himachal Pradesh has 755 cases.

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 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.

An estimated 110,522 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, taking the total number tests done so far to 92.14 crore.

Under the covid vaccination drive, more than 220.65 crore vaccine doses have been administered and in the last 24 hours, around 15,874 vaccine doses were given.