India reported over 15,700 fresh cases in the week (April 18-24), compared to 8,050 in the previous week, an increase of 95%. This was the second week of rising cases after a steady decline for 11 consecutive weeks.
Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh accounted for the bulk of the new cases during the week, with a majority of the numbers coming from NCR cities. These were the only three states where a surge in cases was reported last week. This week, nine other states, including Kerala, reported a surge in cases, MaharashtraKarnataka, Tamil NaduBengal, Rajasthan and Punjab,
Delhi reported 6,326 cases this week, which is 2.7 times more than 2,307 last week. Haryana reported 2,296 cases and UP 1,278, both more than double the number recorded last week. Together, the tally in the three states made up nearly two-thirds of all new cases in the country this week.
While cases have been increasing over the past two weeks – it is not clear whether this is mainly due to the new Omicron sub-variant or the result of a decline in immunity due to the longer interval after the second dose – there is no increase in deaths. Has not happened. virus yet. Excluding the deaths in Kerala (which is now releasing data only to the Centre), India reported only 27 deaths during the week, the same as the previous seven days.
Apart from the 12 states that saw an increase in cases during the week, the numbers were rising in eight other states/UTs, though these were still reporting less than 100 cases in a week.
Maharashtra recorded a 48% increase in cases, reporting 996 during the week. Kerala reported at least 1,790 fresh cases (Sunday’s number is yet to be ascertained), up from 1,434. Karnataka reported 565 cases, a 71% increase from the previous week, while Tamil Nadu reported a 62% increase, Bengal 66% and Telangana 24%.
To the north, the numbers were gradually rising in Rajasthan, which recorded 141 cases, a 57% increase over the previous week. In Punjab, the number of cases has tripled, from 56 last week to 170 this week. In the Northeast, 668 new cases were reported in Mizoram, up from 520 last week.
Active cases of the virus in the country rose to over 16,300 from around 11,500 last Sunday.
After including cases from Kerala (from where the data came late, through the Union Health Ministry), the country saw a 13.4% increase in new Covid infections last week.