COVID-19: India reports 30,615 new cases, 514 more deaths
India on Wednesday reported over 30,000 new COVID-19 cases, a marginal increase of around 3,000 cases from the previous day. The active caseload in the country currently stands at 3,70,240, which accounts for 0.87% of the total cases. In the past 24 hours, 30,615 new cases and 514 fatalities were reported. Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 recovery rate has reached 97.94%.
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India on Wednesday reported a slightly higher number of COVID-19 cases than the day before. However, both active caseload and weekly positive rate continue to witness a declining trend. 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 4,27,23,558 COVID-19 cases till Wednesday morning, while the death toll reached 5,09,872. With 82,988 fresh discharges, the number of total recoveries climbed to 4,18,43,446. The daily positivity rate also continues to decline and currently stands at 2.45%. On the other hand, the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 3.32%.
Kerala adds most new cases
Maharashtra reported 2,831 new COVID-19 cases along with 8,695 more recoveries. Kerala, the second worst-hit state after Maharashtra, reported 11,776 new cases and 32,027 discharges. The third worst-hit Karnataka added 1,405 fresh cases and 5,762 recoveries. Tamil Nadu, the fourth worst-hit state, witnessed 1,325 new cases and 5,894 discharges. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh reported 615 new cases and 2,787 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 10 am on Wednesday, India administered over 173.8 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. Overall, more than 76.1 crore people have been fully vaccinated, while over 96 crore people have received one dose. On Wednesday alone, India administered nearly 66,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses till 10 am, including over 50,000 second doses and over 10,000 first doses, according to Co-WIN.
Over 1.7 crore 'precautionary' doses administered
Meanwhile, India has administered over 1.7 crore "precautionary" doses since January 10. On Wednesday, nearly 2,500 healthcare/frontline workers and over 4,600 elderly people were given the precautionary dose till 9:30 am.
Omicron threat remains high in east Europe: WHO
The World Health Organization on Tuesday said a new wave of infections from the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is moving towards the east of Europe. It also urged authorities to improve vaccination and other measures to tackle the situation. Over the past two weeks, COVID-19 cases have more than doubled in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Russia and Ukraine, WHO's Europe regional director said.
