India’s active COVID-19 tally stands at 65,286; PMO takes stock of situation

New Delhi: As India’s active COVID-19 caseload crosses the 65,000-plus mark, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Wednesday chaired a high-level meeting to assess the situation. Across the country, 12,591 fresh cases were reported in the past one day. With this, the daily and weekly positivity rates are both pegged at 5.46 per cent and 5.32 per cent, respectively.

The total number of active infection cases due to SARS-CoV-2 now stands at 65,286; this is 0.15 per cent of all the cases reported since the start of the pandemic. Meanwhile, it was discussed during the meeting held by PMO officials that the majority of the COVID-19 cases are reportedly coming from eight states, including Kerala, Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Rajasthan.

Notably, approximately 92 per cent of the existing COVID-positive cases in the eight states are in home isolation. To measure the preparedness of health infrastructure and logistics, the availability of drugs, and the immunisation campaign, Dr PK Mishra, the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, chaired the high-level meeting.

In contrast to the rising COVID-19 cases, merely 574 doses of vaccine were administered in the last twenty-four hours. India has so far administered 220.66 crore total vaccine doses (95.21 crore second doses and 22.87 crore precaution doses) of the COVID-19 vaccine as part of the immunisation campaign.

Experts are saying that the new Omicron’s subvariant XBB.1.16 (also known as Arcturus) is not causing an increase in hospitalisations despite being highly infectious. In order to manage localised surges, Dr PK Mishra stressed the availability of adequate health infrastructure at the sub-district level, which may be secured by working with the states.

10,827 recoveries have been recorded in the last twenty-four hours, bringing the total recoveries since the outbreak of the pandemic to 4,42,61,476. As per the Union Health Ministry’s bulletin issued at 8 a.m. today, the national COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 98.67 per cent.

A total of 92.48 crore COVID-19 tests have been conducted so far, including 2,30,419 tests in the last 24 hours. Also present at the meeting, Rajesh Bhushan, the Union Health Secretary, informed attendees about the sudden rise in the positivity rate and the status of tests being conducted in the country. The central government has, however, directed all states to send sufficient samples for testing and ramp up whole genome sequencing.