Covid Live Highlights: Four BF.7 Cases Found In Bengal, All Patients Came From US
Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Follow this page for all the latest updates on coronavirus from India and around the world.
Four cases of Covid sub-variant BF.7 infection detected in Bengal. All the patients arrived from the US, the health department said.
Global airlines grouping International Air Transport Association (IATA) has termed the COVID restrictions on China a 'knee-jerk' reinstatement of measures, which have proven "ineffective" in the last three years.
IATA chief Willie Walsh in a statement on Wednesday said that "Governments must base their decisions on 'science facts' rather than science politics".
Several countries are introducing COVID-19 testing and other measures for travellers from China, even though the virus is already circulating widely within their borders, according to IATA. (PTI)
Delhi logged six fresh coronavirus cases with a positivity rate of 0.13 per cent on Wednesday, according to data shared by the city health department here.
With the new infections, the national capital's COVID-19 tally has risen to 20,07,250. The death toll remained unchanged at 26,521, the data showed. (PTI)
Mumbai on Wednesday reported two new coronavirus infections and zero fatalities, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said. The tally of COVID-19 cases in the city rose to 11,55,135, while the death toll remained unchanged at 19,746.
On Tuesday, Mumbai had recorded three new COVID-19 cases and zero pandemic-related deaths. The city has now 27 active COVID-19 cases. (PTI)
Indiscriminate use of steroids during the COVID-19 pandemic was a key factor behind the spurt in cases of mucormycosis, a serious but rare fungal infection, among coronavirus survivors in the country in 2021, said an infectious disease expert at the ongoing Indian Science Congress here on Wednesday.
The pandemic taught several lessons, including the need to keep the environment clean and judicious use of drugs like steroids, said Dr Tanu Singhal, a paediatrician and infectious disease specialist at Mumbai's Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital.
The four government COVID-19 vaccination centres in the Lucknow have run out of vaccines, making it difficult for people to get a precautionary dose, an official said on Wednesday. Health department officials expect a new lot of vaccines to arrive by next week, he said. (PTI)
India on Wednesday registered 175 new Covid cases. The active caseload declined to 2,570, according to the Union Health Ministry data. The tally of Covid cases in India is at 4.46 crore while the death count is 5,30,707, data updated at 8 am stated. The active caseload declined by 12 in a day and now comprises 0.01 percent of the total infections.
According to the health ministry website, the national COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 98.80 per cent. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,41,45,854 while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.19 percent.
The national capital recorded fewer than 10 COVID cases for the second day in a row with 7 fresh infections, according to the Delhi Health Department on Tuesday.
With this, the active cases in the city stand at 34. The case positivity rate in the city is 0.21 per cent. As many as 5 COVID patients recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours taking the total number of recoveries to 19,80,689. No patient died during this period. The death toll remained at 26,521 while 3,366 COVID samples were conducted in the last 24 hours.
As many as 996 beneficiaries were vaccinated during this period. The cumulative count of vaccinated beneficiaries rose to 3,73,61,741.
Meanwhile, India reported 2,582 cases fresh Covid cases and 222 recoveries in the last 24 hours, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Affairs on Tuesday.
Amid the exponential rise in COVID-19 cases in China, the pharmaceutical industries are finding it difficult to cope with the high demand for medicines after the Xi Jinping-led government announced relaxations in its zero-Covid policy.
Many people have started resorting to consuming expired medicines due to the acute shortage of medicines in China, local media reported.The local versions of Tylenol and Advil are nearly impossible to find at pharmacies in China, fueling anger across the nation, CNN reported in December. In order to calm panic buying, regional governments have initiated measures to limit sales and increase the supply of popular fever drugs.
China has even curbed the export of various raw materials used in the production of essential drugs, leading to shortages of these drugs in countries like Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and Singapore.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Communist Party's announcement regarding relaxation of epidemic prevention and control measures from January 8 has triggered apprehensions across the country that COVID-19 cases could rise further.
Pharmaceutical companies in China are working at full capacity to ensure the supply of key medicines for COVID-19 control, Xinhua reported. Lanzhou Foci Pharmaceutical Co. in China's Gansu province has been working to manufacture medications for cold and respiratory infections.
Omicron XBB.1.5 has raised concerns in many countries including India where its cases have been reported, and it has the capability to infect even those who have been vaccinated, according to experts, as reported by the news agency ANI.
According to Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, Co-chairman of the National IMA Covid task force, XBB.1.5 is an upgraded version of XBB, a recombinant sub-lineage of Omicron that was found a few months ago in multiple countries like Singapore and later in India.
"XBB.1.5 has a greater ability to attach itself to the human ACE-2 receptor while retaining the outstanding immune evasiveness of its ancestor," Dr Jayadevan said as quoted by ANI.
Dr Jayadevan further explained that this variant has the ability to infect those who had a prior infection or even vaccination. "Immune evasiveness is the ability of the virus to infect people who had prior infection or vaccination or both. XBB.1.5 achieved this by creating a rare type of mutation called F486P, located in its RBD (receptor binding domain). It is not known whether it causes more severe diseases. Experts believe it is unlikely to do so," the expert said, as quoted by ANI.
However, he said that continued vigil is needed to see if these ongoing genetic changes also enable the virus to cause more severe disease. "The latest genomic surveillance data from India show XBB accounts for 20 per cent, while the older variant BA.2.75 is still dominant. This landscape could change," he said.
According to Dr Pragya Yadav, Sr Scientist, NIV-Pune, ICMR who tweeted about the global XBB.1.5 cases reported, "The USA has the highest count and India has 1 case which was reported on December 24, 2022, from Gujarat. Country XBB.1.5, USA1357, Canada24, France15, Israel13, Netherlands10, Denmark8, Switzerland6, Australia5, Austria4, and United Kingdom 3.
Five cases of COVID-19’s XBB.1.5 variant, responsible for the rise in cases in the US, have been found in India, according to data from the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG).
Of the five, three cases were found in Gujarat and one each in Karnataka and Rajasthan, according to INSACOG figures on Tuesday. The XBB.1.5 strain is a relative of the Omicron XBB variant, which is a recombinant of the Omicron BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75 subvariants. Combined, XBB and XBB.1.5 make up 44 per cent of cases in the US.
Background
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Five cases of COVID-19's XBB.1.5 variant, responsible for the rise in cases in the US, have been found in India, according to data from the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG).
Of the five, three cases were found in Gujarat and one each in Karnataka and Rajasthan, according to INSACOG figures on Tuesday.
The XBB.1.5 strain is a relative of the Omicron XBB variant, which is a recombinant of the Omicron BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75 subvariants. Combined, XBB and XBB.1.5 make up 44 per cent of cases in the US.
Meanwhile, government officials told PTI that the need for a second booster dose of Covid vaccine is not on the agenda as of now.
A fourth Covid shot is unwarranted at the moment as most people in the country are yet to receive their third dose, they said.
Also, there is no data available on the utility of a second booster for the currently used vaccines, the sources said.
India began administering a precautionary or booster dose in January 2022 and till now only 28 per cent of the eligible population have taken it.
"The need for a second booster dose of Covid vaccines is not on the agenda of the government as of now nor are discussion over it underway. Most importantly, majority of the population are yet to receive a third dose and those who are due for it should take it," an official source said.
Amid mounting international restrictions on travellers from China due to a surge in Covid cases, Beijing on Tuesday called the curbs "unacceptable" and warned of "countermeasures" in response, AFP reported. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said some countries have imposed entry restrictions "targeting only Chinese travellers".
The United States, Canada, France and Japan are among a dozen countries that now require travellers from China to show a negative Covid test report before arrival.
"Some countries have taken entry restrictions targeting only Chinese travellers. This lacks scientific basis and some practices are unacceptable," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular briefing. Ning also warned that China could "take countermeasures based on the principle of reciprocity".
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