New COVID cases cross 2.82 lakh as Omicron case tally rises to 8,961 cases

New Delhi: India witnessed a steep rise in cases with 2,82,970 new COVID cases and 441 deaths being reported in the last 24 hours, highest in over seven months. The Omicron tally for the country has risen by 0.79 percent from yesterday to 8,961 cases.

The cumulative vaccine coverage crossed 158.88 crore in the country with the administration of over 76 lakh doses in the last 24 hours. Over 55 lakh precaution doses have now been administered under the programme started for vulnerable groups on January 10. Meanwhile, over 3.7 crore children in the age group of 15-18 years or 50 per cent have received their first dose of Covaxin.

With several states reporting a rise in daily COVID cases, the active cases mounted to 18,31,000 which is the highest in over 232 days. 1,88,157 recoveries in the last 24 hours takes the recovery rate to 93.88 per cent, which has witnessed a consistent drop since the onset of the third wave. The daily positivity rate stood at 15.13 percent while the weekly positivity rate has risen to 15.53 percent.

Earlier in the day, an analysis by scientists on COVID-19 situation in the country revealed that some states including Mumbai and capital Delhi have already reached the peak of the third wave as they witness a drop in cases while other states including Karnataka are yet to witness it. Both Mumbai and Delhi are witnessing decline in cases with 6,149 cases and 11, 684 cases being reported in the cities on Tuesday.

Amidst a decline in testing numbers, the Union Health Ministry on Tuesday asked states and UTs to adopt strategic testing, in accordance with the recently issued ICMR guidelines. The guidelines has suggested testing only symptomatic and at-risk contacts of the COVID patients with no hard and fast rule to test the asymptomatic.

India is planning to move ahead with the testing of mRNA vaccine that will be developed specifically for the new Omicron variant. Health experts reiterated that the vaccines however, remain the best effective measure to reduce the severity of the disease developed in addition to COVID-Appropriate Behaviour to prevent the spread.