COVID-19: India reports 796 new cases, 19 more deaths
India on Tuesday reported nearly 800 new COVID-19 cases, a decline of over 60 cases from the previous day. The country's active caseload currently stands at 10,889, which accounts for 0.03% of the total cases so far. In the past 24 hours, a total of 796 new cases and 19 fatalities were reported. Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 recovery rate stood at 98.76%.
Why does this story matter?
India on Tuesday reported fewer COVID-19 cases than the day before. The declining trend, shown by both the active caseload and the weekly positivity rate, also reflects the improving COVID-19 situation in the country. However, there is now some concern over the new coronavirus variant, XE. Notably, Gujarat reported its first case of the XE variant last week.
946 patients discharged
According to data shared by the Union Health Ministry, India reported a total of 4,30,36,928 COVID-19 cases until Tuesday morning, while the cumulative death count reached 5,21,710. With 946 fresh discharges, the number of total recoveries in the country climbed to 4,25,04,329. On the other hand, the daily and weekly positivity rates were recorded at 0.20% and 0.24%, respectively.
Kerala stops publishing daily COVID-19 data
Kerala on Monday announced that it has stopped publishing official data on COVID-19 cases due to declining infections. Maharashtra reported 41 new COVID-19 cases and 87 more recoveries. Delhi reported 137 new cases and 144 recoveries, while Karnataka added 34 cases and 29 recoveries. Tamil Nadu witnessed 28 new cases and 27 discharges. No fresh deaths were reported in Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and TN.
India's third wave peaked in January
Notably, India witnessed a massive spurt in coronavirus infections in December-end and at the beginning of January—dubbed India's third wave—due to the highly contagious Omicron variant. The third wave peaked on January 21, 2022, when 3.47 lakh single-day cases were recorded. However, this was lower compared to the second wave, when 4.14 lakh single-day infections were recorded at a peak on May 7, 2021.
Over 185 crore vaccine doses administered
As of Tuesday morning, India has administered over 185.8 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. Overall, over 83.9 crore people have been fully vaccinated, while more than 99.5 crore people have received one dose. On Tuesday alone, India administered over 5.7 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses till 12:30 pm, including over 2.64 lakh second doses and nearly 2 lakh first doses, according to Co-WIN.
2.33 crore 'precautionary' doses administered
Moreover, India has administered over 2.33 crore "precautionary" doses since January 10. On Tuesday, over 30,000 people in the age group 18-59 years and over 83,000 people aged over 60 years were given the precautionary dose till 12:30 pm.
Variants will keep coming, nothing to panic: COVID-19 panel head
Dr. NK Arora—the head of India's COVID-19 working group—said new COVID-19 variants would keep coming, but there is nothing to "panic" about as they will not cause "severe" diseases. "...none of the variants is causing severe disease at the moment as per the facts and figures—given by the Indian data," Arora added. This comes as concerns are being raised over the new XE variant.
