Covid-19 cases may peak in India in next 10 days, and then dip: Report

The current rise in Covid cases is being driven by XBB.1.16, which is a sub variant of Omicron.

Coronavirus (Covid-19) cases in India are expected to rise for the next 10-12 days, and will gradually come down, news agency PTI reported citing sources. The report also underlined that the diseases is heading towards an endemic stage.

Health workers participate in a mock drill after the Union Health Ministry decided to conduct a nationwide mock drill on 10 and 11 April to check the preparedness of both public and private health facilities to deal with the spike in Covid-19 virus cases.

Endemic is a stage where cases occurs regularly in certain regions. When a disease becomes endemic, the number of people falling ill remains relatively constant over time.

Even though the cases are increasing, hospitalisation is low and expected to remain low. The current rise in Covid cases is being driven by XBB.1.16, which is a sub variant of Omicron.

To take stock of the preparedness in hospitals amid surge in cases across the country, health ministry had conducted nationwide mock drills on Monday and Tuesday. Several states have even issued Covid guidelines and made masks mandatory again.

India on Wednesday registered a single-day rise of 7,830 new coronavirus infections, the highest in 223 days - taking the total tally to 4,47,76,002. On Tuesday, a total of 5,676 cases were reported.

The death toll due to the disease has increased to 5,31,016 with 16 new fatalities being reported – two each in Delhi, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, and one each in Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, and five reconciled by Kerala, according to health ministry data.

(With inputs from agency)