Delhi faces maximum threat of Covid-19 amid fourth wave scare, here's why

New Delhi: India recorded 2,927 fresh infections in a day which pushed the case tally to 4,30,65,496 while the active caseload increased to 16,279, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday (April 27, 2022). With this, the number of active cases in the country has increased to 16,279.

Of the new coronavirus cases in India, Delhi contributed 1,204, almost half of them. This was the fifth consecutive day that the national capital recorded over 1,000 fresh Covid-19 cases in a single day.

Experts told Zee News that from the relaxation in wearing of face masks to the simultaneous opening of schools, the recent spike in the number of cases in Delhi is due to the sudden removal of all Covid-19-related restrictions. 

It was only after the cases increased, that the Delhi government decided to make face masks mandatory.

In India, including Delhi, Omicron (B.1.1.529) and its sub-lineage BA.2.12.1 are also seen as the cause behind the increasing number of Covid-19 cases.

A sub-variant of Omicron was also found in the Genome Sequencing Lab at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Science (ILBS) in Delhi. Now, the samples that were found positive from the new sub-variant (BA.2.12.1) have been sent to the Covid-19 Genome Sequencing Consortium INSACOG.

In Delhi, it is now also being checked through more genome sequencing whether the infection of BA.2.12.1 was limited to only one place or in the entire city. It is notable that the new variant was detected when Delhi started sequencing samples with CT values ​​of 25 or more from April 9.

The XE variant, however, has not been found in Delhi yet.