India reports 752 new Covid-19 cases, four deaths in 24 hours

India saw a singleday rise of 752 coronavirus infections the highest since May 21 2023 while the active cases have increased to 3420 according to Union health ministry data updated on Saturday reported news agency ANIA multifold spurt in fresh Covid19 cases was noted in India over the past 24 hours with Kerala contributing the major chunk of thoseThe death toll was recorded at 533332 with four new deaths two from Kerala one each in Rajasthan and Karnataka reported in a span of 24 hours the data updated at 8 am statedThe countrys Covid19 case tally stood at 450 crore 45007964The number of people recuperated from the disease has increased to 44471212 and the national recovery rate stands at 9881 per cent according to the health ministrys website The fatality rate stands at 119 per centThe ministrys website stated that 22067 crore doses of Covid19 vaccine have been administered in the country so farMeanwhile amid rising concerns over the emergence of the new variant of the coronavirus former World Health Organisation WHO chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan told news agency ANI that there is no need to panic currently as it is a variant of interest and not of concern However she urged people to be cautious by taking proper precautionary measuresThe World Health Organization WHO recently classified JN1 as a variant of interest distinct from its parent lineage BA286 However the global health body emphasised that the overall risk posed by JN1 remains low based on current evidenceThe number of new COVID cases increased by 52 per cent during the past fourodd weeks the WHO said with over 850 000 new cases reported during the periodThe number of new deaths decreased by 8 per cent as compared to the previous 28day period with over 3000 new fatalities reported World Health Organization WHO said in its latest press releaseAs of December 17 over 772 million confirmed cases and nearly seven million deaths have been reported globally since the onset of COVID19 the WHO notedFurther the WHO said over 118000 new COVID19 hospitalisations and over 1600 new intensive care unit ICU admissions have been recorded with an overall increase of 23 per cent and 51 per cent respectively globallyDue to its rapidly increasing spread WHO is classifying the variant JN1 as a separate variant of interest VOI from the parent lineage BA286 It was previously classified as VOI as part of BA286 sublineagesBased on the available evidence the additional global public health risk posed by JN1 is currently evaluated as low Despite this with the onset of winter in the Northern Hemisphere JN1 could increase the burden of respiratory infections in many countriesThe WHO had earlier said it was continuously monitoring the evidence and would update the JN1 risk evaluation as neededCurrent vaccines continue to protect against severe disease and death from JN1 and other circulating variants of SARSCoV2 the virus that causes COVID19 it notedWith inputs from PTI and ANI