There can be no revision within the COVID vaccination coverage for the nation for now, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya mentioned on Monday, whereas talking concerning the present spike in instances that India is reporting. He mentioned that India had sufficient vaccine inventory, and that the federal government was in no hurry to acquire extra.

“We have enough for those who want to avail of the vaccine in the government sector. Additionally, the private sector is also catering to those who want to get the vaccine dose,” he mentioned. On Monday, India reported a single- day soar of three,641 contemporary COVID-19 instances (in accordance with information launched by the Health Ministry at 8 a.m.), a determine that’s the highest this yr to date. India at the moment has an energetic caseload of 20,219. The present every day positivity charge is at 6.12% which has virtually doubled because the starting of the month. The whole tally of COVID-19 instances within the nation because the onset of the pandemic is 4.47 crore.

The Minister added that there was no must be fearful or alarmed because the sub-variant of Omicron that’s at the moment circulating within the nation had not elevated hospitalisation or severity of sickness.

Watch | Data Point: COVID cases rise, but booster coverage remains low

“The cases are going up but we aren’t worried as the severity and hospitalisation has not gone up. The Indian government is prepared and is monitoring the situation,” mentioned the Minister.

According to Union Health Ministry information up to date at 8 a.m. on Monday, the entire loss of life toll has risen to five,30,892 with 11 fatalities — three from Maharashtra and one every in Delhi, Kerala, Karnataka, and Rajasthan — recorded in a 24-hour span. The toll additionally consists of 4 deaths reconciled by Kerala, the info said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) mentioned that SARS-CoV-2 continues to evolve, and primarily based on the comparisons of antigenic cross reactivity utilizing animal sera, replication research in experimental fashions of the human respiratory tract, and proof from scientific and epidemiological research in people, there’s consensus amongst consultants in WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) that in comparison with earlier variants, Omicron represents essentially the most divergent variant of concern (VOC) seen so far.

“Since its emergence, Omicron viruses have continued to evolve genetically and antigenically with an expanding range of sub-lineages, which so far have all been characterised by properties of evasion of existing population immunity and a preference to infect the upper respiratory tract (versus lower respiratory tract), as compared to pre-Omicron VOCs,” it added.

The international well being company additionally mentioned that Omicron viruses account for over 98% of the publicly accessible sequences since February 2022.