The top Union Health Ministry official noted that the current surge in the COVID cases could be attributed to the spread of the XBB 1.16 variant in the country.
The daily COVID-19 cases as well as the test positivity rate in India have gone up over the last couple of weeks. The government says there is no need to worry but Covid appropriate behaviour has to be followed
The XBB 1.16 variant was first found in January when two samples tested positive for the variant while in February a total of 59 samples were found.