COVID-19: India witnesses over 1.6L new cases; 1,733 deaths
India on Wednesday logged over 1.6 lakh new COVID-19 cases, a decline of nearly 6,000 cases from the previous day. In the past 24 hours, 1,61,386 new infections and 1,733 fatalities were reported. The active caseload currently stands at 16,21,603, which accounts for 3.90% of the total cases. Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 recovery rate has also climbed to 94.91%.
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India on Wednesday reported a marginally lower number of COVID-19 cases than the day before. The improving COVID-19 situation is also reflected in the rapid decline of the active caseload and daily positivity rates over the last few days. This comes as India witnessed a massive spike in cases due to the Omicron variant. Notably, the majority of daily cases are concentrated in Kerala.
Over 2.8L patients discharged
According to the Union Health Ministry, India reported a total of 4,16,30,885 COVID-19 cases till Wednesday morning. The death toll reached 4,97,975. With 2,81,109 fresh discharges, the number of total recoveries climbed to 3,95,11,307. The daily positivity rate also witnessed a sharp decline and currently stands at 9.26%. On the other hand, the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 14.15%.
Kerala adds most new cases
Maharashtra reported 14,372 new COVID-19 cases along with 30,093 more recoveries. Kerala, the second worst-hit state after Maharashtra, reported 51,887 new cases and 40,383 discharges. The third worst-hit Karnataka added 14,366 fresh cases and 60,914 recoveries. Tamil Nadu, the fourth worst-hit state, witnessed 16,096 new cases and 25,592 discharges. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh reported 6,213 new cases and 10,795 recoveries.
Over 167 crore vaccine doses administered
Till 10 am on Wednesday, India administered over 167.2 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. Overall, more than 71.5 crore people have been fully vaccinated, while over 94.5 crore people have received at least one dose. On Wednesday alone, India administered over one lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses till 10 am, including nearly 68,000 second doses and over 23,000 first doses, according to Co-WIN.
Over 1.2 crore 'precautionary' doses administered
The country has administered over 1.2 crore "precautionary" doses since January 10. On Wednesday, over 6,000 healthcare/frontline workers and more than 10,000 elderly people were given the "precautionary" dose till 10 am.
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.
Highly contagious sub-variant of Omicron detected in 57 countries: WHO
A highly contagious sub-variant of the Omicron strain of coronavirus has been detected in 57 countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. Omicron has several sub-lineages such as BA.1, BA.1.1, BA.2, and BA.3, the WHO said. Studies indicate that the BA.2 sub-variant could be even more infectious than Omicron. Notably, Omicron has rapidly become a dominant variant across the globe.
