New Delhi: Even as XBB.1.16 variants of Covid-19 remain the most dominating Omicron sub-lineages in India, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday said that the severity and hospitalisation of people affected with this variant are less. This recombinant variant XBB.1.16 accounts for 38.2 per cent of the infection till date.
"The majority of the population already vaccinated while several others, who tested positive, got immunity. So, there is hardly any chance that the new variants will have any impact on the population," said Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya while speaking to ETV Bharat. Though he admitted that the number of cases has been increasing for the last few days, Mandaviya said, "The number of hospitalisation is low." As per the Health Ministry data on Monday, 3,641 new Covid cases have been recorded across the country in the last 24 hours.
The ministry said 3,824 new cases have been recorded on Sunday while on Saturday as many as 2,994 cases were recorded. A total of 220.66 crore Covid vaccines were administered till Monday with 95.21 crore second doses and 22.86 crore precautionary doses. According to the latest bulletin of the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortium (INSACOG), Omicron and its sub-lineages continue to be the dominant variants in the country.
"An increase in infection rate has been observed, especially in western, southern and northern parts of India," the INSACOG said. It said that a newly emerged recombinant variant XBB.1.16 has been observed in different parts of the country, accounting for 38.2 per cent of the infection till date. "Among the samples collected till the third week of March 2023, XBB continued to be the most commonly circulating Omicron sub-lineages. A few BA.2.10 and BA. 2.75 sub-lineage was detected in some parts of the country whereas XBB was the most prevalent sub-lineage of the Omicron variant," the INSACOG said.
The INSACOG reports genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 by whole genome sequencing of samples from sentinel sites across the country and international passengers arriving in India. Globally, nearly 3.7 million new cases and 26,000 deaths have been reported in the last 28 days. "The global variant landscape is characterised by a continuous increase in the prevalence of the recombinant variant XBB and its descendent lineages," the INSACOG said. Currently, there is one variant of interest (VOI), XBB.1.5, and five variants under monitoring (VUMs), including BQ.1, BA.2.75, CV.1.1, XBB and XBF.
