A new variant of coronavirus has been discovered - and is behind a sudden rise of infections in India.
The Omicron sub-variant, known as 'Arcturus' or XBB.1.16, is causing worry in the country, reports the Mirror. Cases of the virus have soared rapidly across the month of April.
And now, India's health ministry have launched mock drills this week in a bid to find out if their hospitals are well-equipped enough to deal with incoming cases.
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The compulsory need to wear masks in public has been introduced in some areas, for the first time in a year for many states.
One example of an area adding new rules is the southern state of Kerela, as Health Minister Veena George reintroduced the wearing of masks for pregnant women, the elderly, and those with underlying medical conditions.
And in the last week alone, cases numbers rose by 3,122 in a single day in India. This news comes as the Ministry of Health for India reported 40,125 active Covid infections by April 12, 2023.
Officials are now encouraging states to increase testing for the new strain of the virus.
Oxford University-run researchers, Our World in Data, have shown in new figures that new daily Covid cases reached 3,108 on April 4 – 242 more than the previous month.
The new Arcturus strain was first detected in January, and is currently being monitored by the World Health Organisation (WHO) - as officials note some mutations of concern.
WHO's technical lead Dr Maria Van Kerkhove said: "We haven't seen a change in severity in individuals or in populations but that's why we have these systems in place.
"It has one additional mutation in the spike protein which in lab studies shows increased infectivity as well as potential increased pathogenicity."
And while the strain has been found in other countries, the majority of the cases were spotted in India, where it had overtaken other variants, Dr Van Kerkhove explained.
However, there has been no reported change in the severity of disease among those infected by the variant.
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