COVID-19: India reports 30,757 new cases; 541 more deaths
India on Thursday reported over 30,000 new COVID-19 cases, a marginal increase of around 100 cases from the previous day. The active caseload in the country currently stands at 3,32,918, which accounts for 0.78% of the total cases. In the past 24 hours, 30,757 new cases and 541 fatalities were reported. Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 recovery rate has reached 98.03%.
Why does this story matter?
India's tally of daily infections has been almost equal in the last two days. However, both active caseload and weekly positivity rate continue to record a sharp decline. 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 67,000 patients discharged
According to the Union Health Ministry, India reported a total of 4,27,54,315 COVID-19 cases till Thursday morning, while the death toll reached 5,10,413. With 67,538 fresh discharges, the number of total recoveries climbed to 4,19,10,984. The daily positivity rate also continues to decline and currently stands at 2.61%. On the other hand, the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 3.04%.
Kerala adds most new cases
Maharashtra reported 2,748 new COVID-19 cases along with 5,806 more recoveries. Kerala, the second worst-hit state after Maharashtra, reported 12,223 new cases and 21,906 discharges. The third worst-hit Karnataka added 1,894 fresh cases and 5,416 recoveries. Tamil Nadu, the fourth worst-hit state, witnessed 1,310 new cases and 5,374 discharges. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh reported 675 new cases and 2,414 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 174 crore vaccine doses administered
Till 9:30 am on Thursday, India administered over 174.1 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. Overall, more than 76.3 crore people have been fully vaccinated, while over 96 crore people have received one dose. On Thursday alone, India administered nearly 48,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses till 9:30 am, including over 38,000 second doses and over 7,700 first doses, according to Co-WIN.
Over 1.7 crore 'precautionary' dose administered
Meanwhile, India has administered over 1.72 crore "precautionary" doses since January 10. On Thursday, over 1,500 healthcare/frontline workers and nearly 3,000 elderly people were given the precautionary dose till 9:30 am.
Centre asks states to review, change or drop COVID-19 restrictions
Meanwhile, the Centre on Wednesday asked states and union territories to review, change or drop COVID-19 restrictions after considering the trend of new cases and positivity rate in their regions. In a letter to Chief Secretaries and Chief Administrators of all states and UTs, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said the coronavirus pandemic in India is showing a sustained declining trend since January 21.
