COVID-19: India sees less than 6,000 new cases, 158 deaths
India on Sunday reported less than 6,000 new COVID-19 cases, a decline of around 500 cases from the previous day. The active caseload in the country currently stands at 59,442, which accounts for 0.14% of the total cases. In the past 24 hours, 5,476 new cases and 158 fatalities were reported. Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 recovery rate has reached 98.66%.
Why does this story matter?
India on Sunday reported fewer COVID-19 cases than the day before. The active caseload and positivity rates are also 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—has been attributed to the Omicron variant.
Over 9,000 patients discharged
According to data shared by the Union Health Ministry, India reported a total of 4,29,62,953 COVID-19 cases till Sunday morning, while the cumulative death count reached 5,15,036. With 9,754 fresh discharges, the number of total recoveries in the country climbed to 4,23,88,475. The daily positivity rate and the weekly positivity rate were recorded at 0.60% and 0.77%, respectively.
Kerala adds most new cases
Maharashtra reported 535 new COVID-19 cases along with 963 more recoveries. Kerala, the second worst-hit state after Maharashtra, reported 1,836 new cases and 2,988 discharges. The third worst-hit Karnataka added 278 fresh cases and 458 recoveries. Tamil Nadu, the fourth worst-hit state, witnessed 223 new cases and 596 discharges. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh reported 76 new cases and 266 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 178 crore vaccine doses administered
Till 10 am on Sunday, India administered over 178.7 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. Overall, over 80 crore people have been fully vaccinated, while more than 96.7 crore people have received one dose. On Sunday alone, India administered over 25,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses till 10 am, including over 21,000 lakh second doses and over 2,400 first doses, according to Co-WIN.
1.94 crore 'precautionary' doses administered
Meanwhile, India has administered over 1.94 crore "precautionary" doses since January 10. On Sunday, over 300 healthcare/frontline workers and over 800 elderly people were given the precautionary dose till 10 am.
Continue genome sequencing: Experts
As India is witnessing a decline in COVID-19 cases, experts suggest that it is important to continue genome sequencing of COVID-19 cases. Scientists are also talking about the need to keep a lookout for "low-frequency mutations" that are not found in the majority of the positive cases but can "escape" vaccine antibodies, The Times of India reported.
