COVID-19: India reports over 2L cases; 959 more deaths
India on Monday reported more than two lakh new COVID-19 cases, a decline of nearly 25,000 cases from the previous day. The active caseload currently stands at 18,31,268, which accounts for 4.43% of the total cases. Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 recovery rate has also climbed to 94.37%. Currently, the daily positivity rate stands at 15.77%, a slight increase from Sunday.
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India on Monday reported fewer cases than the day before. Both weekly positivity rate and active caseload have also recorded a decline on Monday. This comes even as India has been registering more than two lakh fresh cases on a daily basis over the past few days. The surge in cases—amid India's third wave—has been attributed to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
2.6L patients discharged
According to the Union Health Ministry, India reported a total of 4,13,02,440 COVID-19 cases till Monday morning. The death toll reached 4,95,050. With 2,62,628 fresh discharges, the number of total recoveries climbed to 3,89,76,122. In the past 24 hours, 2,09,918 new cases and 959 fatalities were reported. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 15.75%.
Kerala adds most new cases
Maharashtra reported 22,444 new COVID-19 cases along with 39,015 more recoveries. Kerala, the second worst-hit state after Maharashtra, reported 51,570 new cases and 32,701 discharges. The third worst-hit Karnataka added 28,264 fresh cases and 29,244 recoveries. Tamil Nadu, the fourth worst-hit state, witnessed 22,238 new cases and 26,624 discharges. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh reported 10,310 new cases and 9,692 recoveries.
Over 166 crore vaccine doses administered
Till 9:30 am on Monday, India administered over 166 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. Overall, more than 70.7 crore people have been fully vaccinated, while over 94.1 crore people have received at least one dose. On Monday alone, India administered nearly one lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses till 9:30 am, including over 62,000 second doses and nearly 25,000 first doses, according to Co-WIN.
Over 1 crore precautionary doses administered
Meanwhile, India has administered over 1.13 crore "precautionary" doses since January 10. On Monday, over 6,700 healthcare/frontline workers and more than 14,000 elderly people were given the precautionary dose till 9:30 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.
EC to review COVID-19 situation in poll-bound states today
The Election Commission will meet on Monday to assess the COVID-19 situation in the five poll-going states and decide on whether to continue the ban on physical rallies. Notably, the EC had banned physical rallies in poll-bound states—Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur, and Goa—when it announced the poll schedule on January 8. Later on January 22, the ban was extended until January 31.
