Omicron tally in country rises to 781, Delhi reports maximum cases

@the_news_21

India has recorded 781 cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus across 21 states and UTs so far out of which 241 people have recovered or migrated, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

Delhi recorded the maximum number of 238 cases followed by Maharashtra at 167, Gujarat 73, Kerala 65 and Telangana 62.

With 9,195 people testing positive for coronavirus infection in a day, India’s total tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 3,48,08,886, while the active cases increased to 77,002, according to the data updated at 8 am.

The death toll has climbed to 4,80,592 with 302 fresh fatalities,the data stated.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been recorded below 15,000 for the last 62 days now.

The active cases comprise 0.22 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.40 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said.

An increase of 1,546 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.79 per cent. It has been less than two per cent for last 86 days. The weekly positivity rate was also recorded at 0.68 per cent. It has been below one per cent for the last 45 days, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,42,51,292, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.38 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 143.15 crore.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.

The 302 new fatalities include 244 from Kerala and 22 from Maharashtra.

Of the 244 deaths in Kerala, 38 were recorded over the last few days and 206 designated as COVID-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the directions of the Supreme Court.

A total of 4,80,592 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,41,476 from Maharashtra, 47,066 from Kerala, 38,318 from Karnataka, 36,750 from Tamil Nadu, 25,107 from Delhi, 22,915 from Uttar Pradesh and 19,733 from West Bengal.

The ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

“Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research,” the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.