NEW DELHI: The health ministry said 1. 9 lakh tests were conducted in last 24 hours of which 228 (0. 1%) came positive. On Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 173, 134, 175, and 188 cases of Covid-19 were recorded in the country in 24 hours. At the Delhi airport, where a random screening of 2% of people arriving from other countries has been conducted since December 24, sources said, 46 out of 5,100 passengers have tested positive.
“The positivity has increased slightly.
Though it is not significant enough to warrant any alarm, it does necessitate close observation,” said an official. Between December 24 and January 3, health ministry sources said, 124 people arriving in India from abroad were found positive for Covid.
The sources said 11 variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, were identified in Whole Genome Sequencing (WSG) carried out on the samples of 40 passengers who were found positive. “XBB, a sub-variant of
Omicron, and its sub-lineages including XBB. 1, XBB. 2, XBB. 3. 4. 5 were found in 14 (35%) out of 40 samples,” officials further stated.