COVID-19 Update: India's Active Caseload Crosses 4000 Mark, Death Tally Stands At 6

India has recorded 692 fresh cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the total active caseload to 4,097, according to Union Health Ministry data.

According to official data, the country recorded six deaths in the past 24 hours- two in Maharashtra and one each in Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala, and West Bengal.

Yesteryear Tamil actor and DMDK founder leader Vijayakanth passed away in Chennai on Thursday after testing positive for Covid-19. The 71 years old actor was hopitalised earlier in the day due to pneumonia.

Delhi also reported its first case of JN.1, a sub variant of Omicron, on Wednesday. However, the patient has already been discharged from the hospital. “We can say that there are no patients of JN.1 variant in Delhi currently,” Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said.

In light of the new variant, last week Union Health Secretary Sudhansh Pant issued a letter to states and Union territories, emphasising the necessity of maintaining constant vigil over the COVID situation.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has also categorised JN.1 as a “variant of interest”. After first being spotted in the United States in September, the variant has now spread across 41 countries.