Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi on high alert as Covid cases surge

India logged 3,095 fresh Covid cases and 6 deaths due to the disease in the last 24 hours, according to data compiled by the Union Health Ministry on Friday.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the country has gone up to 13509.

Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi and UP have sounded an alert over the surge in Covid cases and have ramped up testing for Covid-19. People have been advised to wear masks and avoid crowded places.

Kerala health minister Veena George said on Thursday that the state had recorded 765 fresh Covid-19 cases.

The positive cases are increasing in the state and hence an alert has been issued to all districts. It has been found that Omicron is spreading in the state, she said.

Maharashtra reported nearly 700 fresh Covid-19 cases on Thursday, the highest single-day detection in over five months. The jump in infections has pushed the count of active cases in the state beyond the 3,000-mark, which doubled in just nine days.

The daily reporting of Covid-19 cases is high in districts such as Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Raigad, Nashik and Sangli, according to the Maharashtra health department.

Solapur and Sangli districts have topped the positivity chart in Maharashtra with 20.05 per cent and 17.47 per cent rate, respectively, in March.

The department confirmed the new Covid-19 variant — XBB.1.16 — has been found in swab samples of 230 patients in the state so far.

Delhi health minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said that the genome sequencing of samples has shown that the surge is driven by the XBB variant of coronavirus and its sub-variants and there is no new variant.

The minister asked the people not to panic due to the high positivity rate, even as Delhi reported two Covid-related deaths. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is also monitoring the situation closely and will hold a review meeting on the matter on Friday.