Amid increasing cases of Covid-19 in the country, former director of AIIMS Dr. Randeep Guleria has said that the increase in cases is not a matter of concern.
He said that unless the Covid-19 variants cause serious illness, hospitalization and death, there is nothing to be afraid of.
“New variants will keep coming as the virus keeps on mutating over the time and the XBB 1.16 is sort of a “new kid on the block”, Guleria told
On the new variant XBB.1.16, he said that this may increase the cases, but as long as the number of people in the hospital is not increasing, or the death toll is not increasing, there is no need to fear.
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra called a high-level meeting on Wednesday and took stock of the preparations in the country.
India recorded 1,134 new coronavirus cases, the highest in 138 days, while the active cases increased to 7,026, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday. +The death toll has climbed to 5,30,813 with five deaths.
According to Dr Guleria, the virus evolves over time, and this happens both with Covid and influenza, and this is what is called an antigenic drift. It will gradually evolve, mutate a little bit and new variants will emerge, he added.
“If we remember when we had the Covid outbreak, it started off with Alpha, Beta, Gamma Delta and Omicron variants. So the virus kept on changing. Luckily, if we look at what has happened in the last one year, we have got variants which are basically sub-lineages of Omicron only. So, it seems the virus has stabilized a little bit, it is not changing as rapidly as it was in the past,” Dr Guleria said.
