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New Delhi, India
India saw a single-day surge of 702 COVID-19 cases, with the number of active cases rising to 4,097, the health ministry said in a statement on Thursday (Dec 28).
Six deaths have been reported in the country in the last 24 hours: two from Maharashtra and one each from Karnataka, Kerala, West Bengal and Delhi, news agency PTI reported citing health ministry's data updated at 8 am local time.
The country had recorded 752 new cases on Dec 22.
The number of daily cases had fallen to double-digits at the beginning of this month. However, they shot up again after the emergence of a new coronavirus variant and cold weather conditions.
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Genome sequencing ordered for detection of JN.1 variant, says Delhi health minister
Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Thursday said that he has restated directions to carry out genome sequencing of patients who have tested positive for coronavirus in order to detect the JN.1 variant.
He said that the government had accelerated Covid testing with 636 tests conducted on Wednesday. "I have reiterated the directions for genome sequencing of all the positive cases so that the number of cases of new variants can be confirmed. Yesterday, three were confirmed, of which two were of the old Omicron variant and the new one is the JN.1 variant. The good thing is that the patient diagnosed with the new variant, who was hospitalised, has been discharged," he told PTI Video.
He said that four patients were at present admitted to the hospital.
India's capital Delhi, meanwhile, reported its first case of the JN.1 variant.
With this, the total count of COVID-19 cases detected in India since its outbreak in Jan 2020 has reached 4,50,10,944, with an increase of 702 cases in a span of 24 hours.
The total death toll due to coronavirus cases in India has risen to 5,33,346, reflecting an increase of six deaths in the last 24 hours.
(With inputs from agencies)