India reports 922 fresh COVID-19 cases, active caseload goes up to 11,903

India reported 922 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, with the total number of active cases going up to 11903. The active caseload currently stands at 0.03 per cent. According the Union Health Ministry data, the five states and Union Territories that witnessed the most number of cases are -- Kerala (2,877), Maharashtra (2,343), Gujarat (1,976), Karnataka (806) and Delhi (671). The spread of the XBB 1.16 variant of coronavirus is the likely reason behind the recent rise in COVID-19 cases across the country, INSACOG data shows.  

Notably, the XBB 1.16 variant was first found in January 2023 when two samples tested positive for the variant. The March 29 Maharashtra figures of new cases of coronavirus have been the highest in the last 153 days. The last time the state recorded these kinds of numbers was in October 2022.

New kid on the block: Ex-AIIMS Director 

Former AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria predicted that new variants will keep emerging as long as the virus keeps mutating. He called the  XBB 1.16 variant the "new kid on the block".States like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan are the ones where new cases are being reported at a higher rate. 

The symptoms of XBB.1.16 according to WHO are the same as that of the parent Omicron strain-fever, cough, cold, runny nose, headache, body ache, sometimes abdominal pain and diarrhoea. Most of these patients are managed at home. We did see more of a loss of sense of smell and taste initially when the Covid pandemic started. But with the omicron sub-variants, we are seeing much less of such cases.