India is currently seeing a fresh surge in COVID-19 infections, with 1,010 active cases reported since May 26, 2025, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare data. The increase is primarily due to rising numbers in Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and to an extent in Delhi.
India is currently seeing a fresh surge in COVID-19 infections, with 1,010 active cases reported since May 26, 2025, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare data. The increase is primarily due to rising numbers in Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and to an extent in Delhi.
As updates on ministry data are awaited, the latest reported death of a 40-year-old man from Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh, who was working in Ludhiana, Chandigarh is the first COVID-19 fatality in the city. Authorities are analysing if he succumbed to the JN.1 variant. Even in Karnataka, the cases are on the rise, with one reported death of a 70-year-old man in Belagavi district who tested positive for COVID-19.
As of May 28, Karnataka reported 40 new cases, taking the total active tally to 126, as per reports. According to IANS, 15 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Rajasthan on Thursday, with Jaipur, Udaipur and Jodhpur contributing to nine, four and two cases respectively. Additionally, a new variant of the coronavirus has been confirmed in the state. The samples tested in the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune revealed two cases each of the XFG and LF.7.9 variants. Besides these, the strains from the JN.1 and NB.1.8.1 series are also being detected. In total of 54 cases have been reported in Rajasthan as per official data of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
According to official data as of May 26, 2025, Delhi’s COVID-19 cases stand at 104, Maharashtra at 210, Gujarat at 83, Kerala at 430, and Tamil Nadu at 69.
Amid increasing COVID-19 cases across Indian states, four new variants LF.7, XFG, JN.1, and NB.1.8.1, have been confirmed and their genome sequencing is being conducted to monitor their emergence. So far, the World Health Organisation has not put these variants as concerning but has placed them under surveillance. Currently, the JN.1 variant(50 per cent) is the most prevalent in India, followed by BA.2 (26 per cent) and other Omicron sub-lineages (20 per cent).
Meanwhile, the Indian government has constituted a committee to monitor the rising Covid-19 cases and vaccine shortages. The panel, which is set up by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has discussed twice the preparedness, vaccine availability, monitoring systems, testing capacity, hospital beds, and essential medicines, as per reports.
