COVID-19 cases in India: Today, India has recorded a single-day rise of 10,158 coronavirus cases, the highest in nearly eight months. According to the Union Health Ministry data on Thursday, India’s Active caseload currently stands at 44,998.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 4.42 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was 4.02 per cent. The active cases now constitute 0.10 per cent of the total infections.
On Wednesday, top Health Ministry sources revealed that the cases will continue to come for the next few days. The cases may climb up for the coming eight to ten days, the sources revealed.
“The current Covid case rise in the country is not an issue of concern. The XBB sub-variant of COVID has been isolated, assessment of vaccine efficiency has been done, this variant is not fatal. The cases will continue to come for the next few days. The cases may climb up for the coming eight to ten days. Even though the cases of COVID are rising, the current surge of COVID cases cannot be called a wave,” the sources revealed.
‘XBB 1.16 variant is causing surge in COVID-19 cases’
According to Dr. SK Chhabra, HOD- Pulmonary, Primus Super Speciality Hospital, the current surge in cases has been attributed primarily to the XBB.1.16 sub-lineage of the Omicron variant.
“The rising number of COVID-19 infections serves as a stark reminder that we must remain vigilant in our efforts to combat this pandemic. So far, we have seen 22-24 cases in the last month between the age of 16-58…The number of cases in the community is almost impossible to estimate because a large number of cases are likely to be asymptomatic and many patients do not get tested or do home testing that doesn’t get reported,” Dr. Chhabra told Financial Express.com.
‘Symptoms of Influenza and COVID-19 similar’
Dr. Chhabra also pointed out that the number of cases in the community is almost impossible to estimate because a large number of cases are likely to be asymptomatic and many patients do not get tested or do home testing that doesn’t get reported.
“The symptoms of influenza, virus, and Covid-19 are very similar so it might cause confusion among the patients to identify. With each new case, a person, a family, or a community is affected. The positivity rate is high in Delhi as the testing rate with PCR is low but there is no need to panic,” Dr. Chhabra told Financial Express.com.
‘Strain is mild but infectivity is very high’
Dr. Pramod V Satya, Consultant – Internal Medicine, Manipal Hospital, Millers Road, Bangalore told Financial Express.com that the present COVID-19 strain is very mild though the infectivity is very high.
“We have often come across many patients in our OPD with non-specific symptoms such as loose stool body pains who after investigation are being diagnosed with COVID. Multiple people in the same family show up with similar symptoms and turn out to be COVID-positive,” Dr. Satya told Financial Express.com.
According to Dr. Satya, the virulence is very low in this year’s COVID-19 strain and almost all the infections are self-limiting which means within 3-4 days, the body pain and other ILI (Influenza-Like Illness) symptoms such as runny nose and throat pain will go away without leaving any residue. Even in the elderly and immune-suppressed patients, there are no long-term sequelae of the present COVID strain that we have come across, he revealed.
Dr. Satya also emphasised that the vaccinations do not prevent the entry of the virus into the lungs, but they do reduce the severity of the disease.
“Immunity gained from vaccination allows the body to eliminate the virus easily, even before it can cause significant damage to the lungs. Vaccinations are given to reduce the severity of infections, and with more than 70% of Indians vaccinated and the remaining 30% having herd immunity, the severity of COVID-19 has been mild,” he revealed.
Elderly, pregnant, or young children should be more vigilant
According to Dr. Kuldeep Kumar Grover, Head of critical care & Pulmonology – CK Birla Hospital, Gurgaon, although the majority of the population has received the vaccinations, it is still recommended that those who are elderly, pregnant, or young children should be more vigilant with greater caution.
“Those who already have medical conditions like heart disease, diabetes, or a persistent throat infection, as these people are more likely to contract and spread the disease further,” Dr. Grover revealed.
