COVID-19: India logs 27,409 new cases; 347 more deaths
India on Monday reported over 27,000 new COVID-19 cases, a decline of around 7,000 cases from the previous day. The active caseload in the country currently stands at 4,23,127, which accounts for 0.99% of the total cases. In the past 24 hours, 27,409 new cases and 347 fatalities were reported. Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 recovery rate has reached 97.82%.
Why does this story matter?
India on Tuesday reported fewer COVID-19 cases than the day before. Both active caseload and daily positivity rate have also been witnessing a declining trend over the past few days. This comes after India witnessed a massive spurt in cases in December-end and at the beginning of January. The spike in cases—dubbed India's third wave—has been attributed to the highly contagious Omicron variant.
Over 82,000 patients discharged
According to the Union Health Ministry, India reported a total of 4,26,92,943 COVID-19 cases till Tuesday morning, while the death toll reached 5,09,358. With 82,817 fresh discharges, the number of total recoveries climbed to 4,17,60,458. The daily positivity rate also continues to decline and currently stands at 2.23%. On the other hand, the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 3.63%.
Kerala adds most new cases
Maharashtra reported 1,966 new COVID-19 cases along with 11,408 more recoveries. Kerala, the second worst-hit state after Maharashtra, reported 8,989 new cases and 24,757 discharges. The third worst-hit Karnataka added 1,568 fresh cases and 6,025 recoveries. Tamil Nadu, the fourth worst-hit state, witnessed 1,634 new cases and 7,365 discharges. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh reported 434 new cases and 4,636 recoveries.
India's second wave peaked on May 7
India's second wave peaked on May 7, 2021, 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 declined after the second wave peaked, India crossed the three-crore mark on June 23. The country crossed the one-crore mark on December 19, 2020, and the two-crore mark on May 4, 2021.
Over 173 crore vaccine doses administered
Till 9:30 am on Tuesday, India administered nearly 173.3 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. Overall, more than 75.7 crore people have been fully vaccinated, while nearly 96 crore people have received one dose. On Tuesday alone, India administered over 67,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses till 9:30 am, including over 50,000 second doses and nearly 10,000 first doses, according to Co-WIN.
Over 1.6 crore 'precautionary' doses administered
Meanwhile, India has administered over 1.67 crore "precautionary" doses since January 10. On Tuesday, over 2,700 healthcare/frontline workers and over 5,000 elderly people were given the precautionary dose till 9:30 am.
Expert panel recommends EUA for Corbevax jab for 12-18 years
The subject expert panel on COVID-19 vaccines on Monday recommended India's drug regulator to grant emergency use authorization to Hyderabad-based Biological E's Corbevax vaccine for the age group of 12-18 years. The drug regulator will take up the committee's recommendation for formal approval of the vaccine in the next few days, reports said. Notably, Corbevax is India's first indigenously developed protein subunit vaccine.
