Covid: Amid global rise, India sees 31 new infections in 24 hours

New Delhi: India recorded 31 new Covid infections in the past 24 hours, while the active cases stand at 249, said the Union Health Ministry on Sunday.

The death toll was recorded at 5,33,298, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 a.m.

On Saturday, the country saw a single-day rise of 42 new Covid infections, while the active cases were recorded at 241.

This comes amid the rise seen in several countries, including the US, the UK, France, Malaysia, Australia and the Philippines.

SARS-CoV-2 virus is circulating, evolving and changing, said Maria Van Kerkhove, interim director for epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention at World Health Organization (WHO), at a recent discussion on the global health body's social media channels.

Van Kerkhove, who was WHO's technical lead during the pandemic, said that Covid continues to pose a threat and "is circulating in every country right now".

"The world has moved on from Covid, and in many respects, that's good because people are able to stay protected and keep themselves safe, but this virus has not gone anywhere. It's circulating. It's changing, it's killing, and we have to keep up," Van Kerkhove, WHO was quoted as saying to Euronews Next.

Australia's North Territory Centre for Disease Control has been notified of more than 500 cases in the past four weeks alone -- a 160 per cent spike from the previous four-week period. Western Australia restores mask mandate in Perth public hospitals as Covid-19 cases surge.

Malaysia reported 2,305 Covid cases last week, an increase of 28 per cent with 21 Omicron variants reported. The Philippines reported 175 new Covid cases.

The most common variants include BA.2.86 which has been "slowly increasing globally", said the WHO which recently classified it as a "variant of interest".

EG.5, also nicknamed Eris, declared as a variant of interest by WHO back in August, currently represents more than half of the Covid-19 variants circulating globally.

Earlier this month, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) flagged concerns over two new variants -- JN.1 and HV.1 -- with potential to evade the immune system.

JN.1 was detected in the US in September and has also been identified in 11 other countries including the UK, US, Iceland, Portugal and Spain, the CDC said. HV.1, which surfaced in mid-summer, now accounts for 29 per cent of the Covid-19 cases in the US, the agency said.

According to the European Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC), XBB 1.5-like variants such as EG.5 are currently dominant, making up about 67 per cent of cases in EU/EEA countries.

Meanwhile, India's Covid case tally stood at 4.50 crore (4,50,01,764). The number of people who have recuperated from the disease increased to 4,44,68,217 and the national recovery rate stood at 98.81 per cent, according to the health ministry's website.

The case fatality rate stood at 1.19 per cent.

To date, 220.67 crore doses of Covid vaccines have been administered in the country, the data revealed.