COVID-19: India's single-day tally drops below 10,000
India on Monday reported over 8,000 new COVID-19 cases, a decline of around 2,000 cases from the previous day. The active caseload in the country currently stands at 1,02,601, which accounts for 0.24% of the total cases. In the past 24 hours, 8,013 new cases and 119 fatalities were reported. Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 recovery rate has reached 98.56%.
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India on Monday reported 22% fewer COVID-19 cases than the day before. Notably, India's daily tally dropped below the 10,000-mark for the first time since the cases peaked in December-end and at the beginning of January due to the Omicron variant. The spike in cases—dubbed India's third wave—has been attributed to the highly contagious Omicron variant.
Over 16,000 patients discharged
According to data shared by the Union Health Ministry, India reported a total of 4,29,24,130 COVID-19 cases till Monday morning, while the cumulative death count reached 5,13,843. With 16,765 fresh discharges, the number of total recoveries climbed to 4,23,07,686. The daily positivity rate and the weekly positivity rate were recorded at 1.11% and 1.17%, respectively.
Kerala adds most new cases
Maharashtra reported 782 new COVID-19 cases along with 1,361 more recoveries. Kerala, the second worst-hit state after Maharashtra, reported 2,524 new cases and 5,499 discharges. The third worst-hit Karnataka added 366 fresh cases and 801 recoveries. Tamil Nadu, the fourth worst-hit state, witnessed 439 new cases and 1,209 discharges. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh reported 136 new cases and 803 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 177 crore vaccine doses administered
Till 9:30 am on Monday, India administered over 177.4 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. Overall, nearly 78.9 crore people have been fully vaccinated, while more than 96.5 crore people have received one dose. On Monday alone, India administered over 25,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses till 9:30 am, including over 21,000 second doses and over 2,100 first doses, according to Co-WIN.
1.8 crore 'precautionary' doses administered
Meanwhile, India has administered over 1.88 crore "precautionary" doses since January 10. On Monday, 872 healthcare/frontline workers and 1,657 elderly people were given the precautionary dose till 9:30 am.
SII seeks regulator's nod for phase-3 trial of Covovax
The Serum Institute of India has sought permission from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to conduct a phase-3 study of its COVID-19 vaccine Covovax as a booster dose in adults, NDTV cited official sources as saying. Notably, DCGI had approved Covovax for restricted use in emergency situations in adults on December 28. However, it hasn't been included in India's inoculation program yet.
