India reports 5,357 fresh Covid-19 cases in last 24 hours

A total of 5,357 new Covid-19 infections were documented in the country in the last 24 hours, a modest decline from Saturday’s figure of 6,155 cases, according to a bulletin issued by the Union Health Ministry on Sunday. Covid infections throughout the country have increased in recent days, with daily fresh infections reaching 2,994 on April 1, 3,824 on April 2, 3,641 on April 3, 3,038 on April 4, 4,435 on April 5, 5,335 on April 6, and 6155 on April 7. As of Sunday, the total number of active cases was 32,814, with a daily positive rate of 3.39 percent, according to the Health Ministry.

After considering the low infection incidence and the quantity of Covid cases in Delhi and across the country, the Supreme Court restored to the physical hearing mode of case adjudication on April 4, 2022. For quite some time, the Supreme Court has been successfully experimenting with the hybrid form of hearing (a blend of physical and virtual).

Even when actual hearings resume, the Supreme Court has begun live-streaming the Constitution bench proceedings via the Supreme Court app and YouTube. According to the ministry, the weekly positive rate is currently at 3.54 percent.

With a statewide increase in Covid cases, Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya conducted a review conference with health ministers from all states and union territories through video conferencing on Friday. Mandaviya advised state health ministers to hold simulated drills at hospitals on April 10 and 11 to test their readiness to handle an increase in cases. He also advised states to monitor trends in influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) cases, send enough samples for COVID-19 and Influenza testing, and ramp up whole genome sequencing of positive samples.