India reports 3,095 Covid-19 cases on Friday, total infections at 15,208

Maharashtra fresh cases drop 38% from Thursday; Delhi reserves 7,986 beds for the infected

India now has 15,208 active Covid19 cases having added 3095 fresh cases in the last 24-hours.

One of the worst hit states, Maharashtra reported 425 fresh cases on Friday, according to the public health department bulletin in the evening. This is almost 38 per cent lower than Thursday’s count in the state.

Maharashtra has screened 36,254 international passengers arriving at Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur airports since December 24 out of the total 1,628,447 arrivals during this period. Forty three people have tested RT-PCR positive. State capital Mumbai now has 937 Covid cases, while neighbouring Thane has 566 cases.

Meanwhile, the Delhi government said on Thursday that it was prepared to fight the spike in Covid-19 cases. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said they are conducting genome sequencing of all Covid cases, and 7,986 beds have been set aside for Covid patients. Delhi had recorded 295 fresh cases on Thursday, taking the active caseload to 932.

Kejriwal said the XBB 1.16 variant of Covid is the predominant one at present, accounting for 48 per cent of all positive cases. He added that it spreads rapidly but is not severe. The variant, however, is infecting those who are fully vaccinated. "On March 15, the daily case count was 42 and in 15 days it jumped to 295," he said.

All Delhi government hospitals have been directed to maintain isolation wards for Covid patients.

Tamil Nadu has made wearing of masks a must at all government hospitals across the state from Saturday, April 1. Doctors, nurses, medical staff, patients and visitors have been asked to ensure cent per cent compliance at around 11,300 health facilities because infection initially started in hospitals.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued revised recommendations for prioritising the use of Covid-19 vaccines. The announcement follows a meeting of the agency’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) between March 20 and 23.