COVID-19: India reports over 3L new cases; 439 fatalities
India recorded 3.06 lakh new COVID-19 cases on Monday, marking the fifth straight day that the daily tally remained over three lakh. As many as 439 fatalities were reported in the last 24 hours, pushing the death toll to nearly 4.9 lakh. Active cases in the country have now risen to roughly 22.5 lakh, accounting for 5.69% of the total cases.
Why does this story matter?
India on Monday reported fewer COVID-19 cases than the day before. However, the active caseload and positivity rates are increasing at an alarming rate. Meanwhile, India's genome sequencing labs' consortium, INSACOG, on Sunday acknowledged that Omicron is in the community transmission stage in the country. This comes as India's single-day COVID-19 numbers witnessed an over 20 times jump in less than one month.
Over 2.4L patients discharged
According to the Union Health Ministry, India has reported a total of 3,95,43,328 COVID-19 cases till Monday morning. With 2,43,495 fresh discharges, the number of total recoveries climbed to 3,68,04,145. Despite lesser cases than Sunday, the daily positivity rate has crossed 20%, while the weekly positivity rate stands at 17.03%. The fatality rate at present is 1.24%.
Karnataka reports most new cases
Maharashtra reported 40,805 new COVID-19 cases along with 27,377 more recoveries. Kerala, the second worst-hit state after Maharashtra, reported 45,449 new cases and 27,961 discharges. The third worst-hit Karnataka added 50,210 fresh cases and 22,842 recoveries. Tamil Nadu, the fourth worst-hit state, witnessed 30,580 new cases and 24,283 discharges. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh reported 14,440 new cases and 3,969 recoveries.
Over 162 crore vaccine doses administered
Till 11 am on Monday, India has administered over 162.2 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. Overall, roughly 68.4 crore people have been fully vaccinated, while over 93 crore people have received at least one dose. On Monday alone, India administered nearly 5.6 COVID-19 vaccine doses till 11 am, including over 2.9 lakh second doses and nearly 1.5 first doses, according to Co-WIN.
78L precautionary dose administered
Meanwhile, India has administered over 78 lakh "precautionary" doses since January 10. On Monday, over 33,000 healthcare/frontline workers and more than 90,000 elderly people were given the precautionary dose till 11 am.
Omicron in community transmission stage in India: INSACOG
The Omicron variant of coronavirus is in the community transmission stage in India, said the genome sequencing labs' consortium INSACOG. Omicron was the dominant strain in multiple metros, where cases have been rising exponentially, INSACOG said in its latest bulletin on Sunday. INSACOG checks variations in coronavirus across India to help understand how it spreads and evolves to suggest an appropriate public health response.
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.
