COVID-19: India reports 1,225 new cases, 28 more fatalities
India on Thursday reported over 1,200 new COVID-19 cases, slightly lower than the previous day. The active caseload in the country currently stands at 14,307, which accounts for 0.03% of the total cases so far. In the past 24 hours, a total of 1,225 new cases and 28 fatalities were reported. Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 98.76%.
Why does this story matter?
India on Thursday recorded a slight decline in COVID-19 cases than the day before. Notably, India's active caseload and positivity rates have been witnessing a steady decline over the past few weeks. This comes after India witnessed a massive spurt in coronavirus infections in December-end and at the beginning of January. The spike in cases—dubbed India's third wave—was attributed to the Omicron variant.
Nearly 1,600 patients discharged
According to data shared by the Union Health Ministry, India reported a total of 4,30,24,440 COVID-19 cases till Thursday morning, while the cumulative death count reached 5,21,129. With 1,594 fresh discharges, the number of total recoveries in the country climbed to 4,24,89,004. On the other hand, the daily and the weekly positivity rates were recorded at 0.20% and 0.23%, respectively.
Kerala adds most new cases
Kerala saw 438 new cases and 562 discharges in the last 24 hours. Maharashtra reported 119 new COVID-19 cases along with 138 more recoveries and two deaths during the period. Karnataka added 35 fresh cases along with 105 recoveries. Tamil Nadu witnessed 39 new cases and 56 discharges. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh reported 15 new cases and 41 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.
Nearly 184 crore vaccine doses administered
As of Thursday morning, India has administered over 183.9 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. Overall, over 83.04 crore people have been fully vaccinated, while more than 98.76 crore people have received one dose. On Thursday alone, India administered over 2 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses till 10:30 am, including over 84,000 second doses and over 90,000 first doses, according to Co-WIN.
2.17 crore 'precautionary' doses administered
Moreover, India has administered over 2.17 crore "precautionary" doses since January 10. On Thursday, over 5,100 healthcare/frontline workers and nearly 30,000 elderly people were given the precautionary dose till 10:30 am.
WHO releases plan to emerge from emergency phase of pandemic
The World Health Organization on Wednesday released an updated plan to end the emergency phase of the pandemic. WHO also laid out three possible scenarios--from best to worst--on how the virus might evolve in coming years. To end the emergency, WHO called on countries to continue or increase virus surveillance capabilities, improved detection of long COVID, continued diagnostic testing for SARS-CoV-2, among other things.
