COVID Update December 23, 2023: India Sees Spurt In Cases, Kerala Major Contributor; WHO Says This...

The sudden spike in COVID-19 cases in India has raised a new health concern in India with states such as Kerala and Karnataka reporting the highest cases. India currently has 3420 active COVID cases, according to the data available on the website of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Kerala has the highest number of COVID cases at 2872. In the last 24 hours, 266 cases and two deaths have been reported in the state. Meanwhile, Kerala's neighbouring state Karnataka has reported 70 fresh cases and 1 death, taking the total caseload to 175. The third biggest contributor is Tamil Nadu with a total number of 117 cases, 13 reported since yesterday, as per data available on the ministry website.

WHO On COVID-19:

The global health body World Health Organization (WHO) in its latest press release said that the number of new COVID cases increased by 52% during the past four-odd weeks, with more than 850,000 new cases reported during the period.

The number of new deaths declined by 8% as compared to the earlier 28-day period, with over 3,000 new fatalities reported, the WHO said.

In view of its rapidly increasing spread, WHO is classifying the variant JN.1 as a separate variant of interest (VOI) from the parent lineage BA.2.86. It was earlier classified as VOI as part of BA.2.86 sublineages.

The WHO earlier said it was constantly monitoring the evidence and would update the JN.1 risk evaluation as needed. Current vaccines continue to protect against severe disease and death from JN.1 and other circulating variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, it noted.

COVID-19 is not the only respiratory disease circulating, but there has been a rise in Influenza, RSV, and common childhood pneumonia recently.

The WHO has advised people to take precautionary measures to prevent infections and severe disease by wearing a mask in crowded places, enclosed, or poorly ventilated areas, keeping a safe distance from others, practicing respiratory etiquette (covering coughs and sneezes), regularly cleaning hands, and getting tested if one has any symptoms or if exposed to someone with COVID-19 or influenza.