3,37 Lakh New Covid Cases In India, Positivity Rate 17.22%
India’s daily Covid curve showed marginal improvement today as the country reported 3.37 lakh cases, which is around 2.7 per cent lower than yesterday.With a tally of 3.88 crore cases, India is the second worst-hit country after the US.
Here are the top 10 updates on coronavirus in India:
The active cases now comprise 5.43 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has decreased to 93.31 per cent. The daily positivity rate has dropped from 17.94% to 17.22% while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 16.65 per cent.
The overall count of the highly infectious Omicron variant reached 10,050 today with 29 states reporting cases of the new strain.
The cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country have crossed the 161-crore mark. 94 per cent of India’s adults have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 72 per cent are fully vaccinated, according to the government.
Covid vaccination, including precaution doses, for individuals having lab test proven coronavirus infection will be deferred by three months after recovery, as per the new rules by the Centre. The suggestion is based on scientific evidence and recommendation of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, Union Health Ministry Additional Secretary Vikas Sheel said in a letter to all states and union territories.
Daily Covid infections in Maharashtra, one of the worst-hit states by the Covid pandemic, rose by 2,073 to record 48,270 new cases on Friday. This included 144 Omicron infections. 52 people also died due to the virus.
Delhi logged 10,756 fresh Covid cases and 38 more fatalities due to the infection on Friday, while the positivity rate declined to 18.04 per cent. As many as 434 people have succumbed to the disease in January so far.
In the south, Tamil Nadu has announced a lockdown this Sunday amid a surge in Covid cases. Autos and taxis will be allowed to go to airport, bus and rail stations. On Thursday, Tamil Nadu recorded 28,561 new Covid cases to take the state’s infection tally to 30,42,796.
Neibhouring Karnataka meanwhile has lifted the weekend curfew. The night restrictions (10 pm-5am), however, will continue as part of efforts to stem the spread of coronavirus.
In the northeast, Mizoram reported 1,199 new COVID-19 cases, 215 more than the previous day, with the tally mounting to 1,57,253, while Arunachal Pradesh registered its highest single-day spike for January with 449 fresh COVID-19 cases on Friday.
The coronavirus has killed at least 5,572,224 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources on Friday. The United States has recorded the most Covid deaths with 860,248, followed by Brazil with 622,205, India on 488,396 and Russia 324,752.