India sees tenfold rise in COVID-19 cases
A new wave of infections emerged in parts of Asia last month, especially Hong Kong, Singapore, China and Thailand.
The new spread of the coronavirus that a few years ago brought the world to a standstill has been linked to JN.1, a highly transmissible variant of the omicron strain of COVID-19. It emerged in late 2023 and spread globally through early 2024, becoming one of the dominant variants in many countries.
India's current caseload is 3,395 as of Sunday, according to Ministry of Health data – up significantly from the previous official count of 257 on May 22.
The ministry confirmed last week it had detected across the country two subvariants of JN.1 – LF.7 and NB.1.8.1 – which spread faster but are believed to be mild.
'(The) majority of those are mild cases, just like seasonal flu, and we are not seeing any significant admission or emergency visits due to COVID-19. Right now, the situation is under control. Any flu that starts spreading spreads fast like wildfire,' Dr. Nikhil Modi, pulmonology and respiratory medicine specialist at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in New Delhi, told Arab News.
While in the last 24 hours, four deaths have been recorded – in Delhi, Kerala, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh – the 'patients were already suffering from critical illnesses,' Modi said.
'Severe disease is not being reported anywhere significantly.'
India was one of the worst-hit countries during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. At its peak, health authorities recorded over 400,000 new cases per day.
Hospitals across many states were overwhelmed with patients and faced severe shortages of oxygen supplies, hospital beds, ventilators, and critical medicines.
The World Health Organization estimates that 4.7 million deaths in India were directly and indirectly related to COVID-19.
'The way we have seen COVID-19 in 2021, panic is bound to come but things, for the time being, are under control. We are not seeing admissions significantly rising due to COVID, so we should be able to manage. Advisories and preparedness in all hospitals have started, so if the situation changes, we are ready for it,' Modi said.
'Right now, we don't have to panic about it.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Al Arabiya
US, China extend tariff truce for additional 90 days
The United States and China on Monday extended a tariff truce for another 90 days, staving off triple-digit duties on each other's goods as US retailers get ready to ramp up inventories ahead of the critical end-of-year holiday season. US President Donald Trump announced on his Truth Social platform that he had signed an executive order suspending the imposition of higher tariffs until 12:01 a.m. EST (0501 GMT) on November 10, with all other elements of the truce to remain in place. China's Commerce Ministry issued a parallel pause on extra tariffs early on Tuesday, also postponing for 90 days the addition of US firms it had targeted in April to trade and investment restriction lists. 'The United States continues to have discussions with the PRC to address the lack of trade reciprocity in our economic relationship and our resulting national and economic security concerns,' Trump's executive order stated, using the acronym for the People's Republic of China. 'Through these discussions, the PRC continues to take significant steps toward remedying non-reciprocal trade arrangements and addressing the concerns of the United States relating to economic and national security matters.' The tariff truce between Beijing and Washington had been due to expire on Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. EDT (0401 GMT). The extension until early November buys crucial time for the seasonal autumn surge of imports for the Christmas season, including electronics, apparel and toys at lower tariff rates. The new order prevents US tariffs on Chinese goods from shooting up to 145 percent, while Chinese tariffs on US goods were set to hit 125 percent - rates that would have resulted in a virtual trade embargo between the two countries. It locks in place - at least for now - a 30 percent tariff on Chinese imports, with Chinese duties on US imports at 10 percent. 'We'll see what happens,' Trump told a news conference earlier on Monday, highlighting what he called his good relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping. China said the extension was 'a measure to further implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state during their June 5 call,' and would provide stability to the global economy. Trump told CNBC last week that the US and China were getting very close to a trade agreement and he would meet with Xi before the end of the year if a deal was struck. 'It's positive news,' said Wendy Cutler, a former senior US trade official who is now a vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute. 'Combined with some of the de-escalatory steps both the United States and China have taken in recent weeks, it demonstrated that both sides are trying to see if they can reach some kind of a deal that would lay the groundwork for a Xi-Trump meeting this fall.' Trade 'détente' continued The two sides in May announced a truce in their trade dispute after talks in Geneva, Switzerland, agreeing to a 90-day period to allow further talks. They met again in Stockholm, Sweden, in late July, and US negotiators returned to Washington with a recommendation that Trump extend the deadline. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said repeatedly that the triple-digit import duties both sides slapped on each other's goods in the spring were untenable and had essentially imposed a trade embargo between the world's two largest economies. 'It wouldn't be a Trump-style negotiation if it didn't go right down to the wire,' said Kelly Ann Shaw, a senior White House trade official during Trump's first term and now with law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. She said Trump had likely pressed China for further concessions before agreeing to the extension. Trump pushed for additional concessions on Sunday, urging China to quadruple its soybean purchases, although analysts questioned the feasibility of any such deal. Trump did not repeat the demand on Monday. 'The whole reason for the 90-day pause in the first place was to lay the groundwork for broader negotiations and there's been a lot of noise about everything from soybeans to export controls to excess capacity over the weekend,' Shaw said. Ryan Majerus, a former US trade official now with the King & Spalding law firm, said the news would give both sides more time to work through longstanding trade concerns. 'This will undoubtedly lower anxiety on both sides as talks continue, and as the US and China work toward a framework deal in the fall,' he said. Imports from China early this year had surged to beat Trump's tariffs, but dropped steeply in June, Commerce Department data showed last week. The US trade deficit with China tumbled by roughly a third in June to $9.5 billion, its narrowest since February 2004. Over five consecutive months of declines, the US trade gap with China has narrowed by $22.2 billion - a 70 percent reduction from a year earlier. Washington has also been pressing Beijing to stop buying Russian oil to pressure Moscow over its war in Ukraine, with Trump threatening to impose secondary tariffs on China.
Arab News
9 hours ago
- Arab News
India pushes ahead with US trade talks despite tariff hike to 50 percent
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: India hopes trade talks with the US will continue even as the US hiked tariffs on its exports to 50 percent due to New Delhi's purchase of sanctioned Russian oil, two lawmakers said on Monday, citing a briefing to a parliamentary panel on foreign affairs. Last week, President Donald Trump imposed an additional 25 percent tariff on Indian goods due to Delhi's continued purchase of Russian oil, bringing the total duty on Indian exports to the US to 50 percent — among the highest of any American trading partner. 'Our relations with the US are multi-dimensional, and should not be seen only through the prism of trade,' one of the lawmakers said, citing the foreign secretary's briefing to the panel. Shashi Tharoor, an opposition Congress party leader, who heads the panel, said trade talks would continue. 'As of now, there is no change in the existing plans for the sixth round,' he said, referring to a scheduled visit of a US trade delegation to New Delhi from August 25. Earlier, junior finance minister, Pankaj Chaudhary told lawmakers that about 55 percent of India's merchandise exports to the United States would be covered by the new tariff. His estimate factored in the initial 25 percent levy, he said in a written response to a lawmaker's query. 'The Department of Commerce is engaged with all stakeholders' for their assessment of the situation, Chaudhary added. Goods trade between the United States and India — the world's biggest and fifth-largest economies, respectively — was worth about $87 billion in the last fiscal year, according to Indian government estimates. The panel separately voiced concerns over Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir's reported remarks on nuclear threats in South Asia during a visit to the US 'Nuclear blackmail will not work with India, and no party, or representative disagrees with this view,' Tharoor said, adding the external affairs ministry had condemned the comments.
Arab News
10 hours ago
- Arab News
Court of Arbitration's latest award on Indus Waters Treaty vindicates Pakistan's stance — FO
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday said the latest award on the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), rendered by Court of Arbitration, is in line with Pakistan's interpretation of the relevant provisions of the treaty, which India has threatened to put in abeyance. India announced in April it was putting the 1960 World Bank-mediated treaty, which ensures water for 80 percent of Pakistani farms, in abeyance a day after an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan, an allegation Islamabad denies. Pakistan has previously said the treaty has no provision for one side to unilaterally pull back and that any blocking of river water flowing to Pakistan will be considered 'an act of war.' The IWT grants Pakistan rights to the Indus basin's western rivers — Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab — for irrigation, drinking, and non-consumptive uses like hydropower, while India controls the eastern rivers — Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej — for unrestricted use but must not significantly alter their flow. India can use the western rivers for limited purposes such as power generation and irrigation, without storing or diverting large volumes, according to the agreement. In a statement issued on Monday, Pakistan's foreign office said it welcomed the award rendered by the Court of Arbitration on Aug. 8 on issues of general interpretation of the IWT, explaining the designed criteria for the new run-of-river hydropower projects to be constructed by India on the western rivers of Chenab, Jhelum and Indus. New Delhi has not yet commented on the development. 'In a significant finding, the Court has declared that India shall 'let flow' the waters of the western rivers for Pakistan's unrestricted use. In that connection, the specified exceptions for generation of hydro-electric plants must conform strictly to the requirements laid down in the Treaty, rather than to what India might consider an 'ideal' or 'best practices' approach,' the foreign office statement read. 'The Court's findings on low-level outlets, gated spillways, intakes for the turbines, and free-board are in line with Pakistan's interpretation of the relevant provisions of the Treaty. The Award also limits India from maximizing the pondage volume.' The South Asian neighbors have been arguing over hydroelectric projects on the shared Indus river and its tributaries for decades, with Pakistan complaining that India's planned hydropower dams will cut its flows. Notably, the Court observed that the awards of a Court of Arbitration are 'final and binding on the parties (India and Pakistan),' and have a controlling legal effect on subsequent Courts of Arbitration and neutral experts, according to the Pakistani foreign office. Recognizing Pakistan's vulnerability as the downstream riparian, the Court has further observed that the object and purpose of the Indus Waters Treaty, as it relates to the western rivers, is to de-limit the two states' respective rights and obligations, in conjunction with mutual cooperation and effective dispute resolutions procedures. 'The award carries special significance in the wake of India's recent announcement to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, and its earlier decision to boycott the proceedings of the Court of Arbitration. It is an endorsement of Pakistan's historical stance on the afore-stated issues,' the foreign office said. 'Pakistan remains committed to full implementation of the Indus Waters Treaty. It also expects India to immediately resume the normal functioning of the Treaty, and faithfully implement the award announced by the Court of Arbitration.'
