India reports 1,109 new COVID pandemic cases with 43 fatalities in single day

COVID-19 Updates: India recorded 1,109 new cases of the novel coronavirus, along with 43 deaths due to the infection in the past 24 hours. According to the data shared by the Union Health Ministry on Friday (April 8), the country saw a total of 1,213 discharges in the last 24 hours, taking the total recovery rate at around 98.76 per cent and total recoveries data reached to 4,25,00,002.

The total active cases of COVID-19 in India have declined to 11,492 (0.03%) the ministry data showed today.

The total death toll in the country is now at 5,21,573. In India, the first death due to the COVID pandemic was reported in March 2020.

Meanwhile, Several reports suggested that the first case of more contagious new Covid-19 variant Omicron ‘XE’ was detected in Mumbai, however, it was later toned-down by the Health Ministry saying the patient was not infected with XE variant. Even though it is yet to be confirmed whether India has reported its first case of XE variant, going by the trends so far, there is nothing surprising about the discovery of the new variant of the virus.

XE variant is a slightly tuned up version of Omicron, not an all-new variant, Rajeev Jayadevan, Co-Chairman National IMA COVID task force said.

Jayadevan said the XE variant is the combination of BA.1 and BA.2 where X stands for Recombinant Type and E is the sequence of its discovery. Mutation and recombination are techniques used by viruses to become fitter.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday announced that a 50-year-old woman with a travel history to South Africa may have been infected with the newly-discovered ‘XE’ variant of the coronavirus. However, the Union Health Ministry denied the report which claimed that the first case of COVID-19 variant XE has been detected in India.

News Credit: India TV News