New Delhi: A total of 19,227 samples of International travellers were collected during testing at International airports and seaports from December 24 to January 3


According to the sources in the Health Ministry close to ABP News, out of the 19,227 tests conducted at the international airports and seaports, 124 patients were found positive and were sent to isolation. A total of 11 variants were found in them. Among the total variants found, variants XBB1,2,3,4 are already existing in India.


The government is seriously screening, studies are being done. The ministry sources said that no variant will be able to make a more serious impact in India. India recorded 188 new coronavirus infections on Thursday, while the active cases have declined to 2,554, according to Union health ministry data.


The total tally of Covid cases has been recorded at 4,46,79,319 and the death toll stands at 5,30,710, with three deaths reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated.


The ministry said the daily positivity has been percent at 0.10 per cent while the weekly positivity has been pegged at 0.12 percent. The active cases comprise 0.01 percent of the total infections, while the national recovery rate has increased to 98.80 percent, according to the health ministry's website.


There has been a decrease of 16 cases in the active Covid caseload in   24 hours, it stated, and added that the number of people who have recuperated from the disease has increased to 4,41,46,055  while the case fatality rate has been recorded at 1.19 percent.


A recent surge has been observed in Covid cases across the world, because of the BF.7 variant which is believed to be the major factor behind the surge including in countries like China and the US.


Looking at the data, submitted by China which shows Omicron subvariants BA.5.2 and BF.7 are predominant that are accounting for 97.5 percent of all local infections, the World Health Organisation (WHO) in an official statement said that they will continue to closely monitor the situation in the People's Republic of China and globally and urged all the countries to continue to be vigilant, to monitor and report sequences, as well as to conduct independent and comparative analyses of the different Omicron sublineages, including on the severity of disease they cause.


Now mandatory pre-departure RT-PCR testing has been introduced for passengers arriving in India on all international flights from China, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand, and Japan. The test has to be conducted within 72 hours before undertaking the journey, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in a press release issued on January 2, 2023. 


(With agencies' Inputs)