It was for 25 consecutive days that India recorded less than one lakh daily COVID-19 cases.
India's COVID-19 case tally rose to 4,29,45,160 with 6,396 people testing positive for the infection in a day while active cases declined to 77,152 on Thursday.
According to Health Ministry, the total number of fatalities now stands at 5,14,388 with 142 more people succumbing to the disease.
It was for 25 consecutive days that India recorded less than one lakh daily COVID-19 cases.
Here are the Highlights on coronavirus cases in India:
Delhi Records 302 Covid cases
Delhi on Friday reported 302 fresh COVID-19 cases and four deaths, while the positivity rate stood at 0.63 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department. With this, the national capital's case count increased to 18,61,189, while the deaths mounted to 26,134, the latest health bulletin stated.
The number of COVID-19 tests conducted a day ago stood at 47,738, it said.
Delhi had on Thursday recorded 326 cases with a positivity rate of 0.77 per cent, and three deaths.
The number of daily cases in Delhi has been on the decline after touching the record high of 28,867 on January 13. The city had recorded a positivity rate of 30.6 per cent on January 14, the highest during the ongoing wave of the pandemic.
Maharashtra's Nashik Reports 12 COVID-19 CasesThe COVID-19 tally in Nashik reached 4,75,823 on Friday after 12 cases were detected, while one death count took the figures up to 8,898, an official said.
So far, 4,66,666 people have been discharged post recovery, including 42 during the day, leaving the district with an active tally of 259, he said.
Maharashtra records 525 COVID-19 cases, nine deaths
Maharashtra on Friday recorded 525 new coronavirus cases and nine pandemic-related deaths, the health department said. The new cases included 206 Omicron variant infections, all reported from Pune city.
On Thursday, Maharashtra had reported 467 new coronavirus cases and 12 deaths. The state's COVID-19 case tally rose to 78,67,916, and death count reached 1,43,727.
So far, a total of 5,211 Omicron cases have been reported in the state. Of these, 4,629 patients have fully recovered, the health department said. There are now 4,476 active coronavirus patients in Maharashtra.
As many as 992 patients were discharged since Thursday evening, taking the total of recoveries to 77, 15,711. The recovery rate is 98.07 per cent.
Over 178.5 Crore Covid Vaccine Doses Administered In India So Far: Government
The cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 178.52 crore on Friday, the Union Health Ministry said. More than 21 lakh (21,70,356) vaccine doses have been administered till 7 pm.
The ministry said so far over 2.04 crore (2,04,78,473) precaution doses have been administered to healthcare workers, frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities.
The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late night, it said.
The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers (HCWs) getting inoculated in the first phase. The vaccination of frontline workers (FLWs) started from February 2.
The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from March 1 for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions. The country launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1.
Active COVID-19 Cases Drop Below 1,500 Mark In Andhra Pradesh
Active COVID-19 cases in Andhra Pradesh on Friday fell to 1,341 even as the state added 86 more cases to its overall tally. According to the latest health bulletin, the total positive cases in the state stood at 23,18,262.
As 288 more people recovered from the infection, the total number of cured went up to 23,02,192. The deaths remained at 14,729 as the state did not report any fresh fatality.
In the 24 hours ending at 9 am on Friday, Guntur district registered 17, West Godavari 15, Prakasam and Visakhapatnam 12 fresh cases each.
The remaining nine districts added less than 10 cases each to their tally.
Collector chairs meet, decides to lift pandemic norms in Maharashtra's Thane, Navi Mumbai civic bodies
District officials who took part in a review meeting on Friday decided that a vast majority of COVID-19 restrictions could be lifted only in Thane and Navi Mumbai civic limits as the situation in these two urban areas had improved.
An official said Collector Rajesh Narvekar, who chaired the meeting, announced that pandemic norms will continue in other areas of Thane district.
The meeting also discussed the drop in vaccination numbers in Thane as several people were getting their jabs in Mumbai, which in turn was leading to the skewing of inoculation statistics of some areas.
The official said district authorities will bring this issue to the notice of the Maharashtra government.
Ladakh Reports 23 New Covid Cases
Ladakh reported 23 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the overall caseload to 28,084 while the active cases in the union territory has gone down to 137, officials said on Friday.
Since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, Ladakh has recorded 228 Covid-related deaths -- 168 in Leh and 60 in Kargil, they said. There was no death reported from union territory on Thursday, they said.
As many as 24 patients were cured and discharged from hospitals in Leh. With these, the total number of cured patients is 27,719, they said. Of the total of 23 fresh cases from union territory, 22 such cases were reported from Leh district and one from Kargil, they said.
Puducherry adds only 1 fresh COVID-19 case; zero fatalities
The union territory of Puducherry logged just one new coronavirus case and zero fatalities during the last 24 hours, a senior Health department official said on Friday. The lone infection was detected at the end of the examination of 497 samples, taking the overall tally to 1,65,739, Director of Health G Sriramulu said in a release here.
The only COVID-19 case reported in the last 24 hours ending 10 AM on Friday was confined to the Puducherry region while the other three regions-Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam- did not log any infections.
128 Covid cases, 6 deaths in Odisha
Odisha reported 128 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the tally to 12,85,615, the Health department said on Friday. Six more patients succumbed to the coronavirus, taking the death toll 9,091, it said.
The daily positivity rate was 0.26 per cent and 22 children were among the new infections, a bulletin stated, adding that 49,614 samples were tested in the past 24 hours.
India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.
The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23 last year.
China one of the best performers in curbing COVID pandemic: Official
China on Friday claimed that it is one of the best performers in curbing the COVID-19 pandemic and attributed the success to its stringent zero-case policy of restricting national and international travel with proactive local lockdowns wherever the virus surfaced.
China's dynamic zero-COVID approach has worked in the country's context, Zhang Yesui, spokesperson for National People's Congress, the country's Parliament told a media briefing ahead of its annual session on Saturday.
India Covid Cases: Active cases comprise 0.16 per cent of the total infections in India
The active cases comprise 0.16 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has further improved to 98.64 per cent, the ministry said. A reduction of 7,255 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
Thane district reports 36 cases; death count up by one
With the addition of 36 coronavirus positive cases, the infection count in Thane district of Maharashtra increased to 7,08,402, an official said on Friday.
These cases were reported on Thursday, he said.
The virus claimed the life of one person during the day, which took the death count in the district to 11,877.
Thane's COVID-19 mortality rate is 1.67 per cent, he added.
Only 5% of fully vaccinated Omicron patients needed hospitalization, data in Mumbai shows
Only five per cent of the fully vaccinated persons who caught the Omicron variant infection in Mumbai needed hospitalization, as per the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) latest sample data.
On the other hand, among those who had not taken a single dose of anti-coronavirus vaccines and who were infected with Omicron, more than 17 per cent had to be hospitalized.
6,396 Fresh Covid Cases In India, Marginally Lower Than Yesterday
178.29 cr vaccine doses have been administered so far under Nationwide Vaccination Drive
India's Active caseload currently stands at 69,897
Active cases stand at 0.16%
Recovery Rate currently at 98.64%
13,450 recoveries in the last 24 hours increases Total Recoveries to
4,23,67,070
6,396 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours
Daily positivity rate (0.69%)
Weekly Positivity Rate (0.90%)
77.09 cr Total Tests conducted so far; 9,23,351 tests conducted in the last 24 hours
Deaths reported in last 24 hours: 201
Kerala added 88 backlog deaths