Covid-19 entering endemic stage in India

New Delhi : Covid-19 pandemic in India is moving towards the endemic stage, so the cases may keep rising for the next 10-12 days after which they will subside, official sources said on Wednesday. Even though the cases are increasing, hospitalisation is low and expected to remain low, the sources added.

The current rise in Covid cases is being driven by XBB.1.16, which is a sub-variant of Omicron, the source said, adding that while Omicron and its sub-lineages continue to be the dominant variant, most of the assigned variants have little or no significant transmissibility, disease severity or immune escape. 

The prevalence of XBB.1.16 increased from 21.6 per cent in February this year to 35.8 per cent in March. However, no evidence of an increase in hospitalisation or mortality has been reported, the sources said.

Meanwhile. in the last 24 hours, India reported 7,830 new Covid-19 cases, pushing the country`s overall caseload to 40,215, according to the latest Union Health Ministry data released on Wednesday.

The data revealed that the daily and weekly positivity rates currently stood at 3.65 per cent and 3.83 per cent, respectively. Meanwhile, 4,692 recoveries in the last 24 hours increased the total recoveries to 4,42,04,771.

In the same period, 2,14,242 tests were conducted taking the total number to 92.32 crore. Also in the last 24 hours, 441 doses were administered. The country has so far administered 220.66 crore vaccine doses. The active cases stand at 0.09 per cent and the recovery rate is 98.72 per cent.

SII restarts Covishield production

Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla on Wednesday said it has restarted manufacturing of the Covid-19 vaccine Covishield amid rising numbers of cases of the virus infection. He said the company already has six million booster doses of the Covovax vaccine available and adults must take the booster shot.