COVID Spike: No Rise In Hospitalisation & Mortality, Assures Centre

New Delhi: Amid concerns over a spike in COVID-19 cases in India, the Centre sought to reassure the country that there’s no reason to panic.

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting to review the situation, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on Thursday there is no evidence of any increase in “hospitalisation and mortality”.

He, however, cautioned people that the threat of the pandemic is not over yet.

“From second week of February when only 108 cases were reported, the COVID number has jumped to 966 in the week ending March 23. It has increased but nothing unprecedented,” Bhushan said at a press briefing on Thursday.

An average of 94,000 cases are being reported globally on a daily basis, of which India accounts for 1%, pointed out Bhushan.

The spike in cases in the country is mainly due to increase in numbers in 8 states — Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh.

Urging elder and comorbid people to continue maintaining COVID-appropriate behaviour and wear masks in crowded places, Bhushan asked states to increase whole genome sequencing of positive samples.

Variants of Omicron continue to be the current circulating variants in the country.

“More and more subvariants develop when pandemic approaches endemic phase… XBB1.5 and XBB 1.16 have been marked as variant of interest… Because scientific evidence shows it has more transmissibility,” Bhushan said, adding that another pan-India mock drill will soon be held to assess COVID preparedness.