Covid in India news highlights: India records 412 Covid-19 cases

The head of the WHO said Tuesday the world needs to properly prepare for future pandemics after finally ending three years of Covid "crisis, pain and loss,"

In his end-of-year message, World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 2023 had marked a turning point in fighting major health challenges but had also brought "immense and avoidable suffering."

Tedros called for ramped-up relief efforts for the Gaza Strip and urged nations to seal a "monumental" pandemic accord to plug preparedness gaps that were exposed during the pandemic.

Karnataka on Tuesday reported 74 fresh cases of Covid-19 and two coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours. This takes the total number of active cases in the state to 464, a Health bulletin said.

With this, the total number of Covid-19 related deaths in the state after the recent spike in cases stands at 9.

According to the bulletin issued by the Health department, in the last 24 hours, as many as 44 patients have been discharged and a total of 6,403 tests have been conducted including 4,680 RT-PCR and 1,723 Rapid Antigen tests. Positivity rate stands at 1.15 per cent while case fatality rate stands at 2.70 per cent.

Amid rising cases of the JN.1 sub-variant of Covid in Karnataka, deputy CM DK Shivakumar urged the public to not panic while assuring that everything is fine so far.

He further asserted that the Health Minister will update about the current status of cases in the state.

"No need to be panic about Covid. Everything is fine now. Our health minister will update," Shivakumar said.

A 51-year-old woman with pre-existing illnesses and who tested positive for Covid-19 died at a hospital in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday, said an official.

The deceased, B Somakala, was admitted to a chest hospital here with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), kidney failure and multi-organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS), said the official.

A total of 69 cases of JN.1 subvariant of Covid have been reported in the country till December 25, Health Ministry sources said on Tuesday.

As many as 34 cases were reported from Karnataka, 14 from Goa, nine from Maharashtra, six from Kerala, 4 Tamil Nadu and two from Telangana, the sources said.

The total number of active cases in the country was recorded at 4,170.

Karnataka reported 436 cases, Kerala 3096, Maharashtra 168, Gujarat 56, and Tamil Nadu 139 cases, according to Union Health Ministry data.

Following the detection of Covid variant JN.1 in the country, Himachal Pradesh's health department has issued an advisory to the chief medical officers in the state to test patients with Covid-like symptoms and take necessary precautions, officials said.

People with symptoms of cold, fever or cough are advised to take a Covid test, Una CMO Dr Sanjeev Kumar said on Tuesday. He also urged people to wear masks.

In cases of respiratory diseases like influenza, cough, cold, sore throat, runny nose, headache and fever, all patients should get an RT-PCR test done immediately, doctors said.

In the past 24 hours, Kerala did not record any new Covid-19 cases, and the active cases have decreased to 3,096, as per the Union Health Ministry's data on Tuesday, PTI reported.

Out of the 116 new cases reported nationally until 8 am today, Kerala reported no new cases, indicating a reduction of 32 active cases from the previous day's count of 3,128. No fatalities were reported in the state on this day. In contrast, on Monday, Kerala had reported 128 fresh Covid-19 cases along with one death due to the disease.

A total of 69 JN.1 Covid variant cases have been reported in the country till 25th December, sources told ANI.

On Tuesday, India recorded 412 new cases of Covid-19, resulting in an increase in the number of active cases to 4,170, as reported by the health ministry, PTI reported.

The death toll attributed to the viral disease reached 5,33,337, with three new fatalities reported from Karnataka within a 24-hour period, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 am.

India's cumulative Covid case count now stands at 4,50,09,660.

Recovery from the disease has seen an uptick, with the number of individuals recuperated reaching 4,44,72,153, and the national recovery rate holding steady at 98.81 percent, as per the ministry's website.

The case fatality rate is reported at 1.19 percent.

According to the website, the country has administered a total of 220.67 crore doses of Covid vaccines thus far.

On Monday, Maharashtra recorded 28 new COVID-19 cases, resulting in a total of 153 active cases in the state, according to a bulletin released by the health department.

To date, the state has documented nine cases of the JN.1 sub-variant, with no new instances reported on Monday, PTI reported.

With these recent additions, the overall COVID-19 tally in Maharashtra since the onset of the pandemic has reached 81,72,163, as reported by the state health department.

The bulletin stated, "There are currently 153 active cases of COVID-19 infection in the state. Among them, 142 patients are undergoing home isolation, while 11 others are admitted to various hospitals. Among these 11 patients, two are in ICUs, while the others are under observation but not in the ICU.

Telangana on Monday reported 10 Covid-19 cases when 989 samples were tested in the state, said a Covid status bulletin released by the state government.

The state also reported one Covid recovery, bringing the total number of COVID recoveries to date in the state to 8,40,392.

According to the bulletin, the total Covid-19 cases reported so far in the state stand at 8,44,558.

The total number of cases under treatment or in isolation in the state is 55. There are no Covid deaths reported in the state today, said the bulletin.

ANI

On Tuesday, officials from the Delhi government reported that COVID-19 positive samples have been dispatched to laboratories for genome sequencing, PTI reported.

As of Sunday, the country has recorded sixty-three cases of the Covid sub-variant JN.1, with the majority—34 cases—identified in Goa, according to official sources. Maharashtra has reported nine cases, Karnataka eight, Kerala six, Tamil Nadu four, and Telangana two.

The officials highlighted that Delhi is currently observing an average of three to four daily COVID cases, indicative of a positivity rate below 1 percent. To better understand the genetic makeup of these cases, the positive patients' samples have been forwarded for genome sequencing. The laboratories entrusted with this task are located at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital and the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS).

On Monday, Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma of Rajasthan conducted a comprehensive review meeting with officials from the health department. This meeting was convened in light of the escalating COVID cases in various regions of the country, ANI reported..

Earlier in the day, CM Bhajan Lal Sharma conducted an unanticipated visit to Sawai Man Singh Hospital (SMS) in order to assess the state of healthcare services. During this impromptu visit, he personally inquired about the condition of patients and evaluated the cleanliness and medical provisions in different hospital wards.

Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said the state government's Cabinet sub-committee will meet on December 26 to discuss on the recommendations made by the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) on further measures to be taken to manage Covid-19 situation in the state.

He also indicated that there will be no imposition of any restrictions as of now, while stressing the need for people to remain cautious or take precautions. Read more

Chandigarh recorded a new Covid case after gap of 35 days, with a 43-year-old woman from Sector 43 testing positive. The variant of the case is yet to be ascertained.

The recently identified Covid-positive patient is currently undergoing mandatory seven days of home isolation.

In the last 24 hours, the health department conducted tests on at least 46 samples. Since the onset of the first wave of Covid, a total of 14,22,664 samples have been tested. Among these, 1,00,700 had turned positive for the virus. The reported count of Covid-related deaths in the city stands at 1,185. Read more

Delhi is seeing three to four cases of Covid-19 infection on average every day, health minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said. "We have been conducting tests and we have received on an average three to four cases per day which is less than even one per cent. We have conducted mock drills and made all necessary arrangements," he said.

34 cases of COVID-19's variant JN.1 have been detected in Karnataka so far, which include three deaths, the state's department of health and family welfare services said on Monday.

"Samples of Covid-19 positive cases were tested for the newly reported Omicron variant of Covid-19, i.e., JN.1 at National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune and National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru. Genome sequencing results of 60 samples are available as on date, out of 192 samples submitted....Total 34 cases have been detected as JN.1 variant," the department said.

Amid the surge in the cases of Covid-19 infection and the detection of a new sub-variant JN.1 among patients, the Delhi government has planned to set up a genome surveillance to tackle the issue. The government has also advised people to wear mask and avoid public gatherings.