India Reports 752 New COVID-19 Cases; Country's Active Cases At 3,420

India on Saturday recorded 752 new COVID-19 infections to take the total number of active cases in the country to 3,420.

Out of 423, 266 fresh infections were reported from Kerala while 70 were from Karnataka, the Union Health Ministry data said.

The death toll stands at 533,332, with four recent fatalities-two from Kerala, and one each from Rajasthan and Karnataka-reported within a 24-hour period, according to the data updated at 8 am.

The number of people recuperated from the disease has increased to 4,44,71,212, and the national recovery rate stands at 98.81 per cent, according to the health ministry's website. The fatality rate stands at 1.19 per cent. So far, the ministry's website said that 220.67 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in India.

Amid rising COVID-19 cases, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, the former Chief Scientist of the World Health Organization said that there is no need to panic, as it is categorized as a variant of interest rather than a variant of concern. Nevertheless, she encouraged individuals to exercise caution and adopt appropriate precautionary measures.

Speaking to ANI, she said, "We need to be cautious, but we don't need to worry because we don't have any data to suggest that this variant JN.1 is more severe or it's going to cause more pneumonia, more death."

The World Health Organization has designated the COVID-19 strain JN.1 as a distinct "variant of interest" due to its rapidly spreading nature, although it has assessed the global public health risk associated with it as "low."

Initially categorized as a variant of interest (VOI) within the BA.2.86 sublineages, which is part of the parent lineage classified as a VOI, the JN.1 variant has seen a surge in prevalence across multiple countries in recent weeks. India has also confirmed its first case of the JN.1 variant.