New Delhi: India on Friday lodged 11,109 fresh Covid cases, the highest count in 236 days, as per the Union Health Ministry's fresh update at 8 am. The active case pool thus reached 49,622.
The country added 29 more deaths on the day, taking the cumulative death count to 5,31,064.
Delhi and Rajasthan reported three death each, while Chhattisgarh and Punjab had two each. One each was reported from Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra, Odisha, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh and Kerala reconciled nine more deaths.
Experts in the field suggested that the recent uptick in cases could be caused by the virus' new XBB.1.16 variant. They said that there is no need to panic but should follow Covid-appropriate behaviour as well as get booster doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.
They also said that the recent rise could have stemmed from more people testing themselves for the virus as a precaution when they were actually infected by the influenza virus, which inducts fever and related symptoms.
Meanwhile, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) informed that the surging influenza cases are due to the Influenza A sub-type H3N2.
The H3N2 virus causes more hospitalisation than other subtypes and has symptoms such as runny nose, persistent cough and fever.