COVID-19: India reports 7K infections 247 more deaths

(MENAFN- NewsBytes)

India on Wednesday reported nearly 7,000 new COVID-19 cases with an active caseload of over 87,000. Active cases now account for just 0.25% of the total cases, the lowest since March 2020. The recovery rate was recorded at 98.38%, the highest since March 2020. Meanwhile, India's daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.59%. It has been under 2% for the last 72 days.

India on Wednesday reported 20.7% higher COVID-19 cases than the day before. However, both weekly positivity rate and active caseload have been showing signs of improvement for the last few weeks. The majority of new infections are concentrated in Kerala. Separately, India's tally of COVID-19 cases involving the Omicron variant has reached 64 after the detection of 11 new infections in Maharashtra and Telangana.

According to the Union Health Ministry , India reported a total of 3,47,10,628 COVID-19 cases till Wednesday morning. The death toll reached 4,76,135. With 8,168 fresh discharges, India's recoveries stand at 3,41,46,931. In the past 24 hours, 6,984 new cases and 247 fresh fatalities were reported. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 0.67%. It has remained under 1% the last 31 days.

India's second wave peaked on May 7, when 4.14 lakh single-day cases were reported, over four times the number of cases reported during the first wave in mid-September 2020. Although infections have declined since the second wave peaked, India crossed the three crore-mark on June 23. India had crossed the one crore-mark on December 19, 2020, and the 2 crore-mark on May 4, 2021.

Maharashtra reported 684 new COVID-19 cases along with 686 more recoveries. Kerala , the second worst-hit state after Maharashtra, reported 3,377 new cases and 4,073 discharges. The third worst-hit Karnataka added 263 new cases and 327 recoveries. Tamil Nadu, the fourth worst-hit state, reported 649 new cases and 695 recoveries. Andhra Pradesh reported 132 new cases and 186 recoveries.

Till 1:30 pm on Wednesday, India had administered over 134.7 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. Overall, over 52.6 crore people have been fully vaccinated, while over 82.1 crore people have received at least one dose. On Wednesday alone, India administered roughly 29 lakh more COVID-19 vaccine doses till 1:30 pm, including nearly 22.3 lakh second doses and over 6.7 lakh first doses, according to CoWIN.

India's Omicron tally reached 64 after three cases were detected in Telangana on Wednesday. On Tuesday, eight new infections involving Omicron were reported in Maharashtra. Following this, the state's Omicron tally climbed to 28. Other states from where Omicron cases have been reported so far include Rajasthan (17), Gujarat (four), Karnataka (three), Delhi (six), and each one in Chandigarh, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Tuesday urged countries to act against Omicron as the variant is spreading at an unprecedented rate. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the strain had been reported in 77 countries. The variant had 'probably' spread to most nations undetected 'at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant,' he added.

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