India records less than 3,000 COVID-19 cases for fifth day
India on Friday reported less than 3,000 daily COVID-19 cases for the fifth straight day at a time when several other countries are seeing a fresh surge in infections. The country's current active caseload is 29,181—just 0.07% of the total cases documented (over 4.3 crore infections) so far. In the past 24 hours, India recorded a total of 2,528 new cases and 149 deaths.
Why does this story matter?
Though COVID-19 cases in India have been declining, the Centre recently issued a warning over the rising infections in China and Southeast Asia. The Health Ministry requested states/UTs to ensure high-level alertness, rigorous genome-sequencing, and increased surveillance. Several countries witnessed a surge in cases recently—including South Korea, Thailand, Germany, and France, among others—and the "stealth Omicron variant" is believed to be triggering this spike.
Nearly 4,000 recoveries recorded in one day
In India, as many as 3,997 COVID-19 patients had recovered in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries so far to 4,24,58,543 on Friday. Moreover, the country's recovery rate stood at 98.73%, as per official data. Also, both the daily and weekly positivity rates stood at 0.40% on Friday while the COVID-19 mortality rate was 1.20%.
Here's what Ministry of Health posted on Twitter
Nearly 181 crore vaccine doses administered so far
As of Friday morning, India administered over 180.97 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. Overall, over 81.8 crore people have been fully vaccinated, while more than 97 crore people have received at least one dose in India. On Friday alone, the country administered over 5.28 lakh vaccine doses, including more than 2.25 lakh first doses and over 2.8 lakh, till 7:45 pm, as per Co-WIN.
Global surge in cases just tip of iceberg: WHO
Separately, the World Health Organization (WHO) had also noted that COVID-19 cases are once again on a rise globally, especially in Asia, after "several weeks of declines." "These increases are occurring despite reductions in testing in some countries, which means the cases we are seeing are just the tip of the iceberg," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO, had warned on Thursday.
More than 2 crore precautionary doses given
Meanwhile, India has also administered over 2.03 crore "precautionary" doses of the COVID-19 vaccine since January 10. On Friday, around 4,500 healthcare/frontline workers and more than 18,000 people aged above 60 years were given the precautionary dose till 7:45 pm.
