Amid H3N2 Scare, India Sees Single-Day Rise Of Over 1,000 Covid-19 Cases After More Than Four Months

Amid the H3N2 scare, India on Sunday saw a single-day rise of 1,071 fresh Covid-19 cases.

New Delhi: Amid the H3N2 scare, India on Sunday (March 19, 2023) recorded a single-day rise of more than 1,000 fresh Covid-19 cases after 129 days. According to the Union health ministry data updated at 8 am, a total of 1,071 fresh coronavirus cases were reported in the country in a span of 24 hours, while the death toll increased to 5,30,802 with three latest fatalities -- one each reported in Rajasthan and Maharashtra and one reconciled in Kerala. 

The number of active Covid-19 cases in India also jumped to 5,915.

The active cases now comprise 0.01 per cent of the total cases, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has been recorded at 98.8 per cent.

According to the health ministry data, the infection tally now stands at 4,46,95,420.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,41,58,703, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.19 per cent, the data said.

According to the ministry's website, 220.65 crore doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide coronavirus vaccination drive.

Covid-19 will be over as a public health emergency of international concern this year: WHO

Earlier this week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the Covid-19 pandemic, which has so far claimed more than seven million deaths globally, may likely end up being as public health emergency of international concern this year and pose a seasonal flu threat.

"I`m confident that this year we will be able to say that Covid-19 is over as a public health emergency of international concern," Ghebreyesus told a media briefing.

"And I think we`re coming to that point where we can look at Covid-19 in the same way we look at seasonal influenza," he added.

The WHO chief said that Covid will continue to pose a threat to human health. 

It will turn into a "virus that will continue to kill, but a virus that is not disrupting our society or disrupting our hospital system", he said.

He added that the virus may become more transmissible but not cause severe disease.

"We declared a global health emergency to spur countries to take decisive action, but not all countries did," he said on Friday.

.@WHO media briefing on #COVID19 and other global health issues https://t.co/KMlaH6PeNs — Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) March 17, 2023

"Three years later, there are almost seven million reported deaths from Covid-19, although we know that the actual number of deaths is much higher."

He noted that for the first time, the weekly number of reported deaths over the past four weeks has been lower than the time the virus was declared a pandemic.

Yet more than 5,000 deaths have been reported per week. 

It is "too many for a disease that can be prevented and treated", the WHO chief said.