India on Wednesday, 4 May, recorded 3,205 new COVID-19 cases and 31 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the daily positivity rate in the country to 0.98 percent.
As the active caseload touched 19,509, the recovery rate in India was officially reported to be 98.74 percent. A total of 2,802 patients recovered till 7 am on Tuesday, bringing the total recoveries in the country to 4,25,44,689.
A total of 4,79,208 beneficiaries across the country received their COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Delhi reported 1,354 new COVID-19 cases, taking active cases in the national capital to 5,853.
On Tuesday, Delhi had reported 1,414 COVID-19 cases and one death, as per data by the Delhi health department. The positivity rate was slightly down to 5.97 percent.
New COVID-19 Variant Detected
The Indian SARS-CoV2 Genomics Sequencing Consortium (INSACOG), a network of national testing laboratories set up by the Government of India, on Tuesday, confirmed the first case of Omicron sub-variant XE in the country.
However, health experts said that there is no need to panic as the variant is yet to show any signs of very high transmission or cause any severe symptoms.
This testing result comes weeks after an unknown variant infected two persons from Maharashtra and Gujarat.
According to the INSACOG bulletin, the XE variant is a recombinant, wherein the coronavirus is a mixture of two strains bound to emerge as one single virus transmitting among people.
The discovery of a new sub-variant of Omicron comes just months after the country suffered a third wave of COVID-19 in January.
As of now, cases are rising in 12 states across the country, where the governments have made it mandatory to wear masks and follow COVID protocols.
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