Centre calls for high-level COVID meeting as India records 6,050 new cases

India on Friday reported 6.050 new Covid-19 cases, 13 per cent higher than yesterday's tally of 5,335 infections, the health ministry data stated. The total active cases stood at 28,303. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya is expected to chair a high-level meeting to discuss the Covid situation.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya is expected to chair a high-level meeting on Friday to discuss the Covid situation amid rising cases. State health ministries and NTGAI (National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization) representatives will participate in the virtual conference.

The meeting will take place on a day when India reported 6,050 new cases of the coronavirus, the largest increase in infections in more than 200 days. According to data from the Union Health Ministry, the number of active cases has grown to 28,303.

Kerala, Delhi, and the northern states like Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Haryana are the primary contributors of India's soaring Covid graph. In the previous several days, there has been a dramatic increase in these states.

Kerala had 1,912 instances in a single day on Thursday, while Maharashtra reported six new cases, Karnataka two, Kerala one, and Punjab one.

According to data from the Union health ministry updated on Friday, there have been 14 deaths, bringing the total to 5,30,943. Three deaths were reported from Maharashtra, two each from Karnataka and Rajasthan, one from each of Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Punjab, and one death in Kerala. The country presently has 25,587 active cases, and the daily positive rate, a measure of the infection's spread, is 3.39 per cent.

On the other hand, the national capital registered 606 fresh Covid-19 cases, the highest since last August, as per the data released by the Delhi government. The most recent INSACOG report states that the recently discovered recombinant coronavirus variant XBB.1.16 is responsible for 38.2% of infections in India to date.