India reported 2.47 lakh coronavirus cases today, the highest single-day rise in the ongoing wave. The country’s tally now stands at 3.63 crore, which includes 5,488 cases of Omicron variant reported across 28 states and union territories.
The active cases comprise 3.08 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has decreased to 95.59 per cent. An increase of 84,825 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry data updated this morning.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 13.11 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 10.80 per cent. The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive has exceeded 154.61 crore, the ministry said.
As many as 380 people have died of Covid during the past 24-hour period, according to the Health Ministry. This includes 199 deaths in Kerala in the last few months, added based on pending appeals after the last Supreme Court guidelines.
Maharashtra, one of the worst-hit states by the Covid pandemic, added 46,723 new COVID-19 cases, up more than 27 per cent from a day ago, taking the overall tally above the 70-lakh mark. The new cases included 86 infections of the highly contagious Omicron strain, pushing their cumulative count in the state to 1,367, according to the state health department.
Delhi reported 27,561 fresh Covid cases, which is a 29 per cent rise over the cases in the last 24 hours and the most number of cases in a day since April. The positivity rate has touched 26 per cent, which is the highest in seven months.
New cases in Kerala crossed 10,000-mark for the first time after three months as the state reported 12,742 infections on Wednesday. Twenty-three virus-related deaths were also reported during the period. State Health Minister has said that the cases are primarily Delta as of now.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with chief ministers over the Covid situation today, news agency PTI reported quoting sources. This is the second review meeting by the prime minister with a week. On Sunday, PM Modi had called for ensuring adequate health infrastructure at the district level and accelerating the vaccination drive for adolescents in mission mode.
The Centre on Wednesday said lateral flow tests, which includes rapid-antigen and home-antigen tests, can detect Covid from the third day after exposure to the virus to day eight while the RT-PCR test can diagnose the infection for up to 20 days. At a press conference, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director-General Dr Balram Bhargava said on the first day one will test negative whatever tests they undertake.
Omicron is not common cold and it is a misconception that is spreading, the government’s top Covid adviser VK Paul said Wednesday, a day after the country’s top epidemiologist called Omicron infections as mild as a cold and said everybody would likely catch it.
Covid cases have been on the rise since late last year due to the fast-spreading Omicron variant, first identified in Botswana and South Africa. The total number of Covid-19 registered worldwide since the start of the pandemic topped 300 million on Friday, according to an AFP count based on official figures.
With inputs from NDTV
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