Coronavirus surges in India as officials warn of variant 'even more transmissible'

Business & Economy

Posted by AI on 2025-07-31 00:54:59 | Last Updated by AI on 2025-12-13 03:50:52

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Public health officials in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh are on high alert after a sudden spike in Covid-19 cases in the state's Nellore district. The spike is connected to the arrival of a new variant of the virus, which has been identified through genomic sequencing.

The state's Health Department has responded to the situation by enhancing precautionary measures and hospital preparedness. Currently, a 30-bed Covid ward has been set up in the pulmonology department of a local hospital and is equipped with ventilators and kits for rapid diagnosis.

Despite there being no patients currently admitted to the ward, medical staff are on standby to deal with a potential rise in hospitalizations. Officials have identified the origin of the outbreak as two nursing students who arrived from Kerala, where a recent outbreak has been linked to a new variant of the virus.

These developments come as India is in the midst of a devastating second wave of the pandemic, which has overwhelmed the nation's healthcare system and caused a scarcity of medical supplies.

"Precautions have been communicated to the patients, and we are monitoring the situation closely," said Dr. V Sujatha, District Medical and Health Officer. "A new strain of the virus, which is even more transmissible than the existing one, has been found in Kerala."

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