It is not a panic situation: Dr Guleria amid spike in Covid-19 cases

Former director of AIIMS, Delhi, Dr Randeep Guleria, on Saturday said while the country was seeing a fresh surge in Covid-19 infections, the situation, as of now, isn't one to induce panic.

"Covid-19 cases have been on the rise across the country. But the majority of the infections are mild. The rate of hospitalisation hasn't gone up either. It's not a panic-like situation yet," Guleria told ANI.

He advised that high-risk groups and the elderly need to take extra precautions.

The former AIIMS director attributed the spike in the covid case across the country to people not following covid appropriate behaviour. "Now, people do not wear masks, wash their hands with sanitisers and do not maintain physical distancing," he said.

Noting that the virus was mutating, he added, "The current rise in cases is due to the XBB.1.16 variant, which is a sub-variant of Omicron."

"It is infectious and spreads very quickly. There was rainfall in the last few weeks that led to a spike in cases," he said.

"We have to try as much as possible to reduce the number of Covid-19 cases," he said, reiterating that Covid-appropriate behaviour holds the key to preventing the spread of the virus.

Amid the recent upturn in Covid cases, medical experts have warned that the new XBB1.16 variant is able to evade the immune systems of people and the next four weeks are very crucial.

Meanwhile, a total of 10,753 new Covid-19 cases were recorded in the country on Saturday, as per a bulletin released by the Union Health Ministry.

Amid a spike in Covid cases in several states, mock drills were undertaken on April 10 and 11 across 33,685 health facilities, including 28,050 government facilities and 5,635 private health facilities.

Earlier this month, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said lawyers were free to appear virtually in court in the wake of the rising number of Covid cases.