ANKARA, April 9 — With parts of India reporting a surge in COVID-19 cases recently, some of the Indian states have made masks mandatory in public places to prevent the spread of the infection.
The northern Haryana state on Saturday made wearing face masks mandatory in public places, reported Anadolu Agency, citing the local health department.
In the southern state of Kerala, local media said masks have been made mandatory for pregnant women, the elderly, and people with lifestyle diseases.
In Puducherry, a small town on southern India’s Coromandel coast, the authorities have made masks mandatory in public places.
On Sunday, Indian Health Ministry said that 5,357 new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours and the country’s active caseload currently stands at 32,814.
The country’s Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday held interactions with the state health ministers and top officials in view of the recent surge in cases in some states. The states were also asked to conduct mock drills of all hospital infrastructure on Monday and Tuesday.
India has been witnessing “a steady increase” in COVID-19 cases with average daily cases rising to 4,188 in the week ending Friday, from 571 in the week ending March 17, according to the ministry, which also said eight states are reporting a high number of COVID-19 cases.
On March 30, India registered a single-day rise of 3,016 new cases, which was the highest in nearly six months.
A top Indian epidemiologist, Dr Lalit Kant, told Anadolu that the present surge in India is apparently linked to the newly emerged recombinant coronavirus variant XBB.1.16.
“This is why the cases have surged in India recently. The variant XBB.1.16 is driving the surge,” he said, adding that the variant is, however, not causing serious illnesses.
During this week’s Health Ministry meeting, it was said that the prevalence of XBB.1.16 increased from 21.6 per cent in Feb to 35.8 per cent in March 2023. However, no evidence of an increase in hospitalisation or mortality has been reported, a release by the ministry said on Friday.
