The country recorded 6,155 fresh Covid-19 infections in the last 24 hours, marking a marginal increase from Friday’s tally of 6,050 cases, the Union health ministry stated in a bulletin on Saturday.

Covid infections in the country have seen an upward trend in the past few days, with the daily fresh infections at 2,994 on April 1, 3,824 on April 2, 3,641 on April 3, 3,038 on April 4, 4,435 on April 5, 5,335 on April 6 and 6,050 on April 7. The overall active cases are stands at 31,194, as of Saturday, with the daily positivity rate at 5.63 per cent, the Health ministry stated further in its release.

With 3,253 recoveries in the last 24 hours, the overall count stood at 4,41,89,111, the bulletin stated, adding that the overall recovery rate is currently at 98.74 per cent.

Under the nationwide vaccination drive, a total of 220.66 crore vaccine doses (95.21 cr second doses and 22.87 cr precautionary doses) have been administered, as of Saturday, of which 1,963 doses were administered in the last 24 hours.

The ministry further stated that the weekly positivity rate currently stands at 3.47 per cent.

On Friday, Delhi reported 755 fresh Covid cases, in a continuing upward spiral in infections. Neighbouring Bihar reported 17 new cases.

The superintendent of Patna’s Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) said, “Cases have increased due to recklessness and lax observance of Covid protocols. It could also be attributed to the changing weather pattern. But hospitals and the Bihar government are on alert.”

“Compared to other states, the situation in Bihar is still normal. Two patients were detected with Covid on Friday. They are receiving treatment and there is no need to panic,” he said.

Amid a nationwide upward trend in the Covid cases, Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday chaired a review meeting with health ministers of all states and Union Territories through video conferencing.

Mandaviya urged state Health ministers to conduct mock drills at hospitals on on April 10 and 11 to assess their preparedness in handling a surge in cases.

He also urged states to identify emerging hotspots by monitoring trends of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) cases and sending sufficient samples for testing of COVID-19 and Influenza; and ramping up whole genome sequencing of positive samples.

It was observed that 23 states and UTs had average tests per million below the national average.”Irrespective of the new COVID variants, the five-fold strategy of ‘Test-Track-Treat-Vaccinate and Adherence to COVID Appropriate Behaviour’ continue to remain the tested strategy for COVID management. This would facilitate the undertaking of appropriate public health measures, he said,” Mandaviya said.

According to the Union health ministry, states and UTs were also requested to expeditiously increase the rate of testing from the current rate of 100 tests per million, as of the week ending 7th April and further advised to increase the share of RT-PCR in tests.