India’s active caseload crosses 8 lakh, Omicron tally at 4,461
India on Tuesday reported a single-day spike of 1,68,063 Covid-19 cases, pushing the active count to 8,21,446. While the daily case count is down from Monday’s 1,79,723 new cases, the daily positivity rate in the country in the last 24 hours stood at 10.64 per cent. As many as 277 deaths were recorded.
According to the Union Ministry of Health, the Omicron tally has reached 4,461, with Maharashtra reporting the highest number of cases (1,247), followed by Rajasthan (645) and Delhi (546). Of these, as many as 1,711 have either recovered or been discharged as of Tuesday, 9 am.
In Karnataka, of the 479 Omicron cases, 26 have recovered, while in Kerala 140 of the 350 cases have recovered or been discharged. In Tamil Nadu, all of the 185 reported Omicron cases have either recovered or been discharged, the government’s press release said.
Meanwhile, Odisha logged its biggest single-day spike in seven months, reporting 7,071 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday.
Beneficiaries take the booster vaccine dose at the Rajawadi Hospital in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar on Monday. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)
Karnataka, whose Chief Minister, Basavaraj Bommai, has tested positive for the disease, recorded 11,698 new cases. Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, too, tested positive, with the state reporting 4,737 fresh infections and five deaths, including that of a six-year-old girl. Whereas, Punjab recorded 3,969 and seven deaths.
Tamil Nadu decided to extend its Covid curbs till January 31 on the day it reported 13,990 new cases.
All shops in and around Barasat in the 24 Parganas district of West Bengal have been ordered to be closed three days a week due to the spread of Covid-19 cases. (Express photo by Shashi Ghosh)
In West Bengal, fewer infections were recorded on Monday, a day after it reported its highest single-day spike. However, the drop in number can be attributed to lower testing as total samples tested in the last 24 hours were down to 51, 675 — down by nearly 20,000 from Saturday’s daily testing numbers — in what officials said was due to closure of testing labs on Sunday.
Cities like Delhi and Mumbai also saw fewer cases than the previous day. In Delhi, there were 19,166 new cases reported in Monday’s health bulletin as compared to 22,751 cases a day ago.
Mumbai’s Juhu Beach closed for public, except for the food stalls near the beach. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)
Mumbai, too, witnessed a sharp dip of 30 per cent in fresh Covid cases as the daily tally in the city fell from 19,474 on Sunday to 13,468. While some experts are hopeful that the low numbers were reflective of a probable plateauing of cases in the city, another section believes that the low numbers are due to the “Sunday effect” when testings are fewer and RT-PCR reports come after 24 hours.
— with PTI inputs
