India logged 325 Covid-related deaths and 90,928 new daily infections, a 56 per cent jump from yesterday’s 58,097 cases in a span of 24 hours and a four-fold increase since 01 January, said the Union ministry of health and family welfare on Thursday.

As many as 325 people have died of Covid during the past 24-hour period, according ot the Health Ministry.

Advertisement

With the addition of new deaths, the death toll has reached 4,82,876.

Meanwhile, the active caseload has spiralled to 2,85,401 — which constitutes 0.81 per cent of the country’s total positive cases.

The fast-spreading Omicron variant has spread to 26 states in India as its big cities, including Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata are experiencing a surge of Coronavirus cases, the highest in over 200 days.

With a single-day jump of 495 Omicron cases, the new variant of Coronavirus infection tally has climbed to 2,630 across the nation.

The most cases have been reported in Maharashtra with 797 cases, followed by Delhi with 465 infections.

However, out of total Omicron positive cases, 995 have been discharged from hospitals, sources said in the Union health ministry.

The recovery of 19,206 patients in the last 24 hours has increased the cumulative tally to 3,43,41,009. Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 97.81 per cent.

The country’s R naught value that indicates the spread of the infection is 2.69, higher than the 1.69 recorded during the peak of the pandemic’s second wave.

Mumbai recorded a new daily infection peak of 15,166 on Wednesday, well up on its previous high of just over 11,000 hit last year. Nearly 90% of new patients had shown no symptoms and only 8% were hospitalised, city officials said in a daily health bulletin.

Covid cases nearly doubled in a day in Delhi to 10,665 on Wednesday, but the state said only 7 per cent of its COVID beds were occupied. State health officials, however, have warned even a large number of mild cases could put pressure on the health system.

Kolkata accounted for half of the new cases in West Bengal until a few days ago, but cases are now rising in neighbouring districts. The state has reported one of the highest rates of infections in India.

Apart from Delhi and Mumbai, the Union Health Ministry has identified Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru as some of the main regions of concern, although state officials worry the disease will soon spread to the countryside where health facilities are weaker.

Also in the same period, a total of 14,13,030 tests were conducted across the country. India has so far conducted over 68.53 crore cumulative tests.

Meanwhile, the weekly positivity rate has climbed to 3.47 per cent amid a sudden spike in cases. The daily positivity rate stands at 6.43 per cent.

With the administration of over 91 lakhs vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India’s Covid inoculation coverage has reached 148.76 crore as of Thursday morning.

More than 18.43 crore balance and unutilised Covid vaccine doses are still available with the states and union territories to be administered, according to the health ministry as of Thursday morning.