Is COVID back? Data on India's COVID cases is alarming

If you think that COVID is no longer a threat, just because you don't hear about it often, you are wrong. Two deaths have occurred in India due to COVID infection between June and July, according to a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The WHO report further adds that India recorded 908 new COVID cases in the last two months. While new cases increased by 30 per cent, 26 percent of deaths were reported worldwide during the period.More than 1,86,000 new cases were reported across 96 countries and more than 2,800 new fatalities were reported across 35 countries.
As per the Health Ministry's COVID dashboard, several Indian states including Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, and West Bengal, are experiencing a positivity rate of over five per cent.

As per experts, KP1 and KP2 are driving COVID cases in the country.
However, there has been no increase in severity or hospitalisations so far.
COVID positivity during the four-week reporting period from 24 June to 21 July 2024 increased from 7.4% in the beginning week of the reporting period to 13.0% in the last across eighty-five countries. During this period, an average of 17 358 specimens across 85 countries were tested for SARS-CoV-2 each week, the WHO has said.
The report adds that JN.1 is the most reported variant of interest (VOI), now reported by 135 countries, accounting for 25.7% of sequences. KP.3.1.1 and LB.1, both descendant lineages of JN.1 have shown an increase in prevalence.
As of 21 July 2024, over 775 million confirmed cases and more than seven million deaths have been reported globally since the beginning of the pandemic, the WHO report says.
South Korea sees an uptick in COVID cases, especially among kids. Data compiled by the Korea Children's Hospital Association from 42 paediatric hospitals showed that there were 1,080 children with Covid from August 5-9, compared with 387 between July 22 and 26, Yonhap news agency reported.
In the US, 27 states are reporting very high levels of COVID activity, the US CDC has said. The wastewater data released by the CDC highlights that atleast 17 US states are reporting high levels of wastewater activity.

(With inputs from IANS)