India accelerates production of Covid vaccine booster shots as daily cases cross 10k

New Delhi, India

India has accelerated the production of Covid booster jabs in the wake of the sudden surge in cases, reportedly due to a new variant of Omicron, called XBB.1.16.

Hospitals are carrying out mock drills and mask mandates have been re-imposed in some states over concerns about the increase in coronavirus cases.

The new variant was first detected in January in India and is said to be more transmissible compared to previous ones.

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But the hospitals are not overwhelmed with patients of coronavirus yet, as mild symptoms are being reported by most of them.

The World Health Organization (WHO) called variant XBB.1.16 as “one to watch” and stated that the variant had a dominant strain in India due to its multiplication in the last few months.

The variant is strongly present in the national capital where more than 1,000 fresh cases were reported on Wednesday and the positivity rate was 26 per cent.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) stated that there has been an increase in Covid cases because of people's complacent behaviour, which includes lax use of masks to cover faces in public spaces.

“Many people lowered their guard against coronavirus, and the low rate of testing could be the driving force behind the surge,” the association said. “Rising cases reflect that Covid has not gone, it is still around, and so we need to take precautions,” it added.

In the wake of the surge in Covid cases, the Serum Institute of India said that the manufacturing of Covishield – which is the vaccine for coronavirus – is being restarted to ensure that people get additional boosters.

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Around 6 to 7 million doses of Covishield, which was developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca in the United Kingdom, will be produced by the Serum Institute of India to build up the country’s stocks.

A mock drill was implemented by the health ministry in hospitals to check on the arrangements made for treating and testing Covid patients.

During Covid's second wave, which hit the country in March 2021, hospitals were overwhelmed with patients. A shortage of medicines, beds and oxygen was faced nationwide, resulting in a huge death toll.