New Delhi, June 9 (UNI) Covid-19 cases have been trending southward in India beginning this year.

On Monday, till 8 am, 358 fresh infections were reported, taking the Covid-19 cases tally to 6,491, according to the Union Health Ministry.

As a matter of relief, no new Covid-19-related deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, the ministry stated.

Kerala continues to be the most affected state, with the active cases tally reaching 1,957 early Monday. It is followed by Gujarat, West Bengal, and Delhi, with the national capital reporting about 42 fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 728.

As many as 624 patients were cured/discharged/migrated from across the country till this morning, as per the official website.

According to the health experts, the current surge of Covid cases in India is driven by new Omicron sub-variants such as JN.1, NB.1.8.1, LF.7, and XFC. These are known to have shown increased transmissibility but mostly mild symptoms. The WHO currently classifies these as “Variants Under Monitoring” — not of concern yet, but requiring caution.

Meanwhile, SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for Covid-19, has not disappeared, but it no longer behaves like an unpredictable emergency — rather, it has become part of a recurring cycle of illnesses, similar to the flu.

In response to the recent increase, the central government has launched mock drills in various states to evaluate hospital preparedness and the availability of oxygen, isolation beds, ventilators, and essential medications.

Officials also confirmed that surveillance systems are monitoring cases of Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) closely.

Current guidelines recommend testing all hospitalised SARI cases and 5% of ILI cases. Samples that test positive for SARI are being sent for whole genome sequencing through the ICMR VRDL network.

UNI AJ ARN