According to official sources, India’s Covid-19 pandemic is transitioning into the endemic stage, which means that cases may continue to rise for the next 10-12 days before subsiding. However, hospitalizations are expected to remain low despite the increase in cases. The current rise in cases is being driven by XBB.1.16, a sub-variant of Omicron, which is now the dominant variant. Most of the assigned variants have little or no significant transmissibility, disease severity, or immune escape. Although the prevalence of XBB.1.16 has increased from 21.6% in February to 35.8% in March, there is no evidence of an increase in hospitalization or mortality.
In the last 24 hours, India reported 7,830 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the country’s total caseload to 40,215. The daily and weekly positivity rates currently stand at 3.65% and 3.83%, respectively. Meanwhile, 4,692 recoveries were recorded in the same period, increasing the total number of recoveries to 4,42,04,771. A total of 2,14,242 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of tests to 92.32 crore. Additionally, 441 doses were administered in the last 24 hours, with a total of 220.66 crore vaccine doses administered so far. The active cases stand at 0.09%, and the recovery rate is 98.72%.
SII CEO Adar Poonawalla announced that Covishield production has resumed amid rising numbers of Covid-19 cases in India. The company has already produced six million booster doses of the Covovax vaccine, and Poonawalla urged adults to take the booster shot.
