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India’s active coronavirus cases have risen to nearly 3,000, with Kerala fighting the latest resurgence of infections – followed by Maharashtra, and Delhi. Official data shows a quick rise in the cases within four days. While India recorded a total of 1,010 cases by May 26, the official data by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare shows a total of 2,710 infections as of May 30.

According to the data, Kerala has recorded 1,147 cases, Maharashtra 424, Delhi 294, and Gujarat 223. Tamil Nadu has recorded a total of 148 cases so far, while Karnataka and West Bengal have reported 148 and 116 cases, respectively.

Rajasthan has reported 51 cases, Uttar Pradesh 42, Puducherry 25, Haryana 20, Andhra Pradesh 16, Madhya Pradesh 10, Goa seven, and Odisha, Punjab, and Jammu Kashmir four each. Three states – Telangana, Arunachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh have reported three cases each, while Mizoram and Assam have two people detected with the infection each so far.

No active case has been reported from Andaman and Nicobar, Sikkim, and Himachal Pradesh. The official data for Bihar is not yet available.In India, the most common Covid-19 variant remains JN.1, comprising 53 per cent of samples tested, followed by BA.2 (26%) and other Omicron sublineages (20%), according to the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG). However, the recent cases have seen at least one case of the new highly contagious NB.1.8.1 variant, and at least four cases of the LF.7 variant, the report said.

As of this month, the World Health Organisation (WHO) classifies LF.7 and NB.1.8 subvariants as Variants Under Monitoring (VUMs), not as Variants of Concern (VOCs) or Variants of Interest (VOIs). But these variants are reportedly driving the rise in Covid cases in China and some other parts of Asia.According to the data, Kerala has recorded 1,147 cases, Maharashtra 424, Delhi 294, and Gujarat 223. Tamil Nadu has recorded a total of 148 cases so far, while Karnataka and West Bengal have reported 148 and 116 cases, respectively.

Rajasthan has reported 51 cases, Uttar Pradesh 42, Puducherry 25, Haryana 20, Andhra Pradesh 16, Madhya Pradesh 10, Goa seven, and Odisha, Punjab, and Jammu Kashmir four each. Three states – Telangana, Arunachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh have reported three cases each, while Mizoram and Assam have two people detected with the infection each so far.

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth warned Saturday that China was “credibly preparing” to use military force to upend the balance of power in Asia, vowing the United States was “here to stay” in the Indo-Pacific region.

The Pentagon chief made the remarks at an annual security forum in Singapore, as the administration of US President Donald Trump spars with Beijing on trade, technology, and influence over strategic corners of the globe.

Since taking office in January, Trump has launched a punishing trade war with China, sought to curb its access to key AI technologies, and deepened security ties with allies such as the Philippines, which is engaged in escalating territorial disputes with Beijing.

“The threat China poses is real and it could be imminent,” Hegseth said at the Shangri-La Dialogue attended by defence officials from around the world.

Beijing is “credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific”, he added.Since taking office in January, Trump has launched a punishing trade war with China, sought to curb its access to key AI technologies, and deepened security ties with allies such as the Philippines, which is engaged in escalating territorial disputes with Beijing.

“The threat China poses is real and it could be imminent,” Hegseth said at the Shangri-La Dialogue attended by defence officials from around the world.

Beijing is “credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific”, he added.

Hegseth warned the Chinese military was building the capabilities to invade Taiwan and “rehearsing for the real deal”.

Beijing has ramped up military pressure on Taiwan and held multiple large-scale exercises around the island, which are often described as preparations for a blockade or invasion.Hegseth described China’s conduct as a “wake-up call”, accusing Beijing of endangering lives with cyber attacks, harassing its neighbours and “illegally seizing and militarising lands” in the South China Sea.

Beijing claims almost the entire disputed waterway, through which more than 60 percent of global maritime trade passes, despite an international ruling that its assertion has no merit.

It has clashed repeatedly with the Philippines in the strategic waters in recent months, with the flashpoint set to dominate discussions at the Singapore defence forum, according to US officials.

“China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea has only increased in recent years,” Casey Mace, charge d’affaires at the US embassy in Singapore, told journalists ahead of the meet.

“I think that this type of forum is exactly the type of forum where we need to have an exchange on that.”

India’s active coronavirus cases have risen to nearly 3,000, with Kerala fighting the latest resurgence of infections – followed by Maharashtra, and Delhi. Official data shows a quick rise in the cases within four days. While India recorded a total of 1,010 cases by May 26, the official data by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare shows a total of 2,710 infections as of May 30.

According to the data, Kerala has recorded 1,147 cases, Maharashtra 424, Delhi 294, and Gujarat 223. Tamil Nadu has recorded a total of 148 cases so far, while Karnataka and West Bengal have reported 148 and 116 cases, respectively.

Rajasthan has reported 51 cases, Uttar Pradesh 42, Puducherry 25, Haryana 20, Andhra Pradesh 16, Madhya Pradesh 10, Goa seven, and Odisha, Punjab, and Jammu Kashmir four each. Three states – Telangana, Arunachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh have reported three cases each, while Mizoram and Assam have two people detected with the infection each so far.

No active case has been reported from Andaman and Nicobar, Sikkim, and Himachal Pradesh. The official data for Bihar is not yet available.

Data suggested at least seven died in recent weeks across India. Two people who died in Maharashtra (1) and Delhi (1) had other severe ailments along with Covid-19. However, it is not yet clear whether others died due to the infection.

All people who died, except for the one in Punjab, were senior citizens, officials said.

However, officials have said that the coronavirus cases are mild in nature and there is no need to panic.

Earlier this week, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Dr Rajiv Bahl said the agencies are watching what is unfolding, and stressed the need to be vigilant.

“The public need not worry about this new variant of Covid-19. We just need to be vigilant. The government and all the agencies are watching what is unfolding. According to me, the basic precautions should be taken. We are not talking about enhanced precautions right now. But if someone is a cancer patient or has immunity problems, then we generally advise them to avoid any infection. Precautions need to be taken,” he said.

In India, the most common Covid-19 variant remains JN.1, comprising 53 per cent of samples tested, followed by BA.2 (26%) and other Omicron sublineages (20%), according to the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG). However, the recent cases have seen at least one case of the new highly contagious NB.1.8.1 variant, and at least four cases of the LF.7 variant, the report said.

As of this month, the World Health Organisation (WHO) classifies LF.7 and NB.1.8 subvariants as Variants Under Monitoring (VUMs), not as Variants of Concern (VOCs) or Variants of Interest (VOIs). But these variants are reportedly driving the rise in Covid cases in China and some other parts of Asia.

US lawmakers concluded a two-year investigation Monday into the Covid-19 outbreak that killed 1.1 million Americans — backing the theory that the virus likely leaked from a Chinese laboratory.

A 520-page report from the Republican-controlled House Select Sub-committee on the Coronavirus Pandemic looked at the federal and state-level response, as well as the pandemic’s origins and vaccination efforts.

“This work will help the United States, and the world, predict the next pandemic, prepare for the next pandemic, protect ourselves from the next pandemic, and hopefully prevent the next pandemic,” panel chairman Brad Wenstrup said in a letter to Congress. 

US federal agencies, the World Health Organization and scientists across the planet have arrived at different conclusions about the most likely origin of Covid-19, and no consensus has emerged.Most believe it to have spread from animals in China, but a US intelligence analysis said last year that the virus may have been genetically engineered and escaped from a virology lab in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where human cases first emerged.

The congressional panel was persuaded by the lab leak theory after meeting 25 times, conducting more than 30 transcribed interviews, and reviewing more than one million pages of documents.

The investigation included two days of interviews behind closed doors with Anthony Fauci, the government scientist who became the nation’s most trusted expert in the chaotic early days of the 2020 outbreak.

Fauci’s clashes with former and incoming president Donald Trump over the response sparked fury on the right, and he now lives with security protection following death threats against his family.

Republicans accuse the 83-year-old immunologist of helping to set off the worst pandemic in a century by approving funding passed on to Chinese scientists they accuse of manufacturing the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes Covid-19.Among its headline conclusions, the report said the National Institutes of Health had indeed funded contentious “gain-of-function” research — which seeks to enhance viruses as a way of finding ways to combat them — at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. 

Fauci angrily denied covering up the origins of Covid-19 before the panel in June, arguing that it would be “molecularly impossible” for the bat viruses studied at the lab to be turned into the virus that caused the pandemic.

But the panel’s report said SARS-CoV-2 “likely emerged because of a laboratory or research related accident.

A new bat coronavirus, similar to the one that caused the COVID-19 pandemic, has been discovered in China. A Chinese team of virologists has found that this virus carries the risk of animal-to-human transmission. According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the new virus called HKU5-CoV-2 was found by a team of virologists led by Shi Zhengli, who is also known as the “batwomen” for her extensive research on bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute.

What is HKU5-CoV-2?

HKU5-CoV-2 is a coronavirus belonging comes from the merbecovirus subgenus, which also includes the virus that causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). Scientists found that the new virus can bind to human ACE2, making it similar to SARS-CoV-2 and NL63 (a common cold virus).

The new virus called HKU5-CoV-2, discovered in bats in China, has the potential of infecting humans. However, researchers have said that more details on animal-to-human transmission are yet to be investigated.Bat merbecoviruses, which are phylogenetically related to MERS-CoV, pose a high risk of spillover to humans, either through direct transmission or facilitated by intermediate hosts,” the study said, as per Newsweek.

“Structural and functional analyses indicate that HKU5-CoV-2 has a better adaptation to human ACE2 than lineage 1 HKU5-CoV,” the Chinese research team wrote in the study.

“Authentic HKU5-CoV-2 infected human ACE2-expressing cell lines and human respiratory and enteric organoids. This study reveals a distinct lineage of HKU5-CoVs in bats that efficiently use human ACE2 and underscores their potential zoonotic risk,” they concluded.

The team also discovered that HKU5-CoV-2 was able to infect human cell cultures in the mini-human organ models the scientists used.Dr Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota, called the reaction to the study “overblown.” He also mentioned people are immune to the SARS virus after the Covid-19 pandemic which may help reduce pandemic risk.

Also, the study itself has stated that the virus has significantly less binding affinity to human ACE2 than SARS-CoV-2. “Risk of emergence in human populations should not be exaggerated,” the study mentioned.

Additionally, the HKU5-CoV-2 does not enter human cells like the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19. While there are numerous coronaviruses out there, only a few can infect humans.

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