COVID-19: 43% surge in daily cases; Omicron tally nears 1K
India on Thursday added 180 new COVID-19 cases involving the Omicron variant. Notably, this is the biggest single-day jump in Omicron cases since the variant was first detected in India. Overall, India reported over 13,000 COVID-19 cases on Thursday. The active caseload is just over 82,000, accounting for 0.24% of the total cases. Currently, India's recovery rate stands at 98.38%.
Why does it matter?
India on Thursday reported 43% higher COVID-19 cases than the day before. However, it has remained below the 15,000-mark for the last two months. Active cases also rose by 5,400 on Thursday after witnessing a near-constant decline for weeks. Meanwhile, India's Omicron tally has been on the rise, breaking the daily record on Thursday for the second time in less than a week.
Over 7K patients discharged
According to the Union Health Ministry, India reported a total of 3,48,22,040 COVID-19 cases till Thursday morning. The death toll reached 4,80,860. With 7,486 fresh discharges, India's recoveries stand at 3,42,58,778. In the past 24 hours, 13,154 new cases and 268 fresh fatalities were reported. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 0.76%. It has remained under 1% the last 46 days.
India's second wave peaked on May 7
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 adds most new cases
Maharashtra reported 3,900 new COVID-19 cases along with 1,306 more recoveries. Kerala, the second worst-hit state after Maharashtra, reported 2,846 new cases and 2,576 discharges. The third worst-hit Karnataka added 566 new cases and 245 recoveries. Tamil Nadu, the fourth worst-hit state, reported 739 new cases and 614 recoveries. Andhra Pradesh reported 162 new cases and 186 recoveries.
Over 144 crore vaccine doses administered
Till 3 pm on Thursday, India had administered over 144.2 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. Overall, nearly 59.8 crore people have been fully vaccinated, while over 84.4 crore people have received at least one dose. On Thursday alone, India administered over 46.6 lakh more COVID-19 vaccine doses till 3 pm, including nearly 36 lakh second doses and over 10.5 lakh first doses, according to Co-WIN.
India's Omicron tally reaches 961
Meanwhile, India's tally of Omicron cases has reached 961, with cases detected in 22 states and union territories. Delhi topped the list of worst-hit states with 263 cases, followed by Maharashtra (252 cases). The other worst-affected regions include Gujarat (97 Omicron cases), Rajasthan (69), Kerala (65), Telangana (62), and Tamil Nadu (45). A total of 320 patients infected with Omicron have been discharged.
Vaccine still effective against Omicron: WHO scientist
The COVID-19 vaccines are still proving to be effective against the Omicron variant despite infections growing rapidly worldwide, the World Health Organization's Chief Scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan said. Swaminathan made the remark, emphasizing that even though Omicron is infecting both vaccinated and unvaccinated people worldwide, the severity of the disease has not surged to a new level.
