India on Saturday recorded as many as 48,698 fresh cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) according to the Union health ministry dashboard at 8am. The country recorded 1,183 new deaths, as per the ministry dashboard.  As a result, the country’s total infection tally was pushed to 30,183,143 and the death toll neared the grim milestone of 400,000.

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The data of health ministry further showed that the number of active cases declined to 595,565 in the last 24 hours. This translates into 2.03% of the total cases and the total number of recoveries stood at 29,193,085, with 64,818 people being discharged in the last 24 hours. On the previous day, the total number of tests done during was 17,45,809.

With 61,19,169 people being inoculated on Saturday, the cumulative vaccinations against Covid-19 reached 31,50,45,926. 

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The country is slowly coming out of the deadly second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. In this regard, speculations regarding the third wave led by various mutations of the virus including the Delta Plus, which has been found in 12 states so far, are rife.

Till now, there have been a total of 51 cases of Delta Plus in the country. Out of these, 22 were reported in Maharashtra, followed by nine in Tamil Nadu, seven in Madhya Pradesh, three in Kerala, two each in Punjab and Gujarat. Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Karnataka reported one case each.

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In a briefing, the Centre has said that the new variant is very limited and it cannot be said that it is showing an upward trend.

Sujeet Singh is the director of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). During a health ministry briefing on Friday, he said, “There are nearly 50 cases that are found in 12 districts and this has happened in the last three months. It cannot be said that in any district or state it is showing an increasing trend. Till the time we do not correlate this we will not say this is a rising trend because its mutations are the same as Delta variant.”