COVID-19: India reports over 3.3L cases; 525 fresh fatalities
India on Sunday reported over 3.3 lakh new COVID-19 cases, the fourth straight day that daily infections remained above three lakh. Active cases in India have now risen to 21,87,205, accounting for 5.57% of the total cases. Meanwhile, the recovery rate has dipped further to 93.18%. India's daily positivity rate was also recorded at 17.78%.
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India on Sunday reported a marginally lower number of COVID-19 cases than the day before. However, the positivity rate and the active caseload are still increasing at an alarming rate. Notably, India's COVID-19 cases witnessed an over 20 times jump in less than one month. Experts attribute this spike in infections—dubbed India's "third wave"—to the highly contagious Omicron variant of coronavirus.
Nearly 2.6L patients discharged
According to the Union Health Ministry, India reported a total of 3,92,37,264 COVID-19 cases till Sunday morning. The death toll reached 4,89,409. With 2,59,168 fresh discharges, the number of total recoveries climbed to 3,65,60,650. In the past 24 hours, 3,33,533 new cases and 525 fatalities were reported. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 16.87%.
Maharashtra, Kerala added most new cases
Maharashtra reported 46,393 new COVID-19 cases along with 30,795 more recoveries. Kerala, the second worst-hit state after Maharashtra, reported 45,136 new cases and 21,324 discharges. The third worst-hit Karnataka added 42,470 fresh cases and 35,140 recoveries. Tamil Nadu, the fourth worst-hit state, reported 30,744 new cases and 23,372 discharges. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh reported 12,926 new cases and 3,913 recoveries.
Nearly 162 crore vaccine doses administered
Till 11:30 am on Sunday, India administered over 161.9 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. Overall, more than 68.2 crore people have been fully vaccinated, while over 92.8 crore people have received at least one dose. On Sunday alone, India administered nearly 3.6 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses till 11:30 am, including over 2.2 lakh second doses and nearly 1.1 lakh first doses, according to Co-WIN.
Over 76 lakh precautionary doses administered
Meanwhile, India has administered over 76.7 lakh "precautionary" doses since January 10. On Sunday, over 11,000 healthcare/frontline workers and more than 20,000 elderly people were given the precautionary dose till 11:30 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.
Election Commission extends ban on physical rallies
The Election Commission on Saturday extended the ban on physical campaign rallies in five poll-bound states till January 31 in view of the emerging COVID-19 situation. Notably, elections are due in five states this year. However, the EC allowed physical public meetings of political parties in designated open spaces with a maximum of 500 persons or 50% of the capacity of the ground.
