Amid rising cases, health ministry says no increase in rate of hospitalisation or death due to Covid

Amid a gradual rise in daily Covid-19 cases, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday that the XBB.1.16 subvariant of Omicron might be the dominant virus strain in the country but there has been no reported increase in the rate of hospitalisation or death so far. "Omicron and its sub-lineages continue to be the predominant variant. No evidence of an increase in hospitalisation and/or mortality has been reported," Bhushan said.