Covid-19 cases in India have started climbing up once again. Average daily cases, which had declined in January and dropped to 97 cases towards the end of the month, have seen an increase in February and Marchl. The daily cases reported in March have multiplied more than eight times to reach 807 average daily cases as on March 21..  

Fatalities under control 

As the Covid-19 virus keeps mutating, new variants emerge. The new XBB.1.6 variant could be the main reason for the recent spike in cases. While cases have shown an increase, fatalities are under control with an all-India recovery rate at 98.79 per cent. The new variant, which is fast-spreading and more transmissible, accounts for more than 30 per cent of all the sequenced genomes in March. The daily fatalities due to Covid-19 have been in single digits averaging between 1 and 3 deaths per day since the beginning of 2023.  

State-wise active cases 

India’s active cases in March are nearing 8,000. Close to half of the active cases are from two States- Kerala and Maharashtra.- which have a combined 3,700 active cases.  

The Prime Minister chaired a high-level meeting to review the status and preparedness of public health response to Covid-19. Precaution and maintenance of vigil, the need to enhance lab surveillance and ramp up genome sequencing along with mock drills in hospitals to ensure preparedness were the key highlights of the meeting. 

Gujarat has the third highest number of active cases at 1,179. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are in the fourth and fifth place with 631 and 517 active cases, respectively.  

Global active cases  

The global total active cases are more than 2 crore. Among countries, Japan has the highest number of active cases at over 1.16 crore, accounting for more than 50 per cent of the global active cases. The US and Poland are the other two countries with over 10 lakh active cases reported. The average daily global deaths have been decreasing since January 2023 and are around 648 as on March 23, 2023. 

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