Covid variants stated that India reported the highest number of XBB 1.16 variant cases, currently, the tally stands at 48. Singapore and the US detected 14 and 15 cases respectively, according to a report by The Times of India. “Thee India states--Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra--are having a high prevalence of XBB 1.16 Covid variant," a top genome expert said.
Speaking to TOI, Dr Vipin M Vashishtha, a member of WHO’s Vaccine Safety Net who has been tracking new Covid variants, said the previous XBB.1 descendant, XBB.1.5, had become dominant across the globe but not in India. “There is some worry about XBB.1.16 globally because it has certain mutations in the non-spike region of the virus: two ORF9b mutations.
ORF9b has been implicated in efficient immune evasion," Vashishtha was quoted by TOI. The Union Health Ministry on Thursday informed that India recorded 734 fresh Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, after a gap of over four months, taking the active caseload to 4,623.
The total tally of Covid cases reported so far has reached 4.46 crore (4,46,92,710). Earlier on Saturday, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan wrote a letter to the States and Union Territories.