India sees slight drop in Covid cases

India saw a slight drop in new Covid cases with 2,483 fresh infections registered in the last 24 hours, the latest health ministry data showed, as Assam added a backlog of 1,347 deaths, taking the country's overall Covid death tally to 5,23,622.

On Monday, 2,541 new Covid cases were recorded across the country.

The active caseload in the country currently stands at 15,636, according to the government data. 

Delhi, where a worrying surge has been reported lately, logged 1,011 fresh infections while the state of Maharashtra reported 84 infections. Over 200 cases were recorded from Uttar Pradesh.

Many states, including Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, have brought back the Covid rules, emphasising on the need of wearing masks as cases surge.

Earlier the country had seen an alarming increase in January during the third wave. And a new XE variant - first detected in the UK - had sparked concerns of a fresh wave.