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The new Covid cases reported today took the total infection tally in India - the second worst-hit country after the US - to almost 3.98 crore, according to Union Health Ministry data.
The active cases in India now comprise 5.62 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate marginally increased to 93.15 per cent. The active cases presently stand at 22,36,842.
The daily positivity rate, which is the share of coronavirus tests that return positive -- considered to be a key marker of the pandemic's status -- has dropped to 15.52 per cent from yesterday's 20.75 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 17.17 per cent.
The country also added 614 fresh fatalities in the past 24 hours, taking the Covid-related death count since the start of the pandemic to 4,90,462.
India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 162.92 crore dose. At least 72 per cent of India's adult population is fully vaccinated whereas at least 52 per cent of children in the 15-18 years old age group have been inoculated with their first dose. However, with vaccines unavailable to children under the age of 15, that age group has been barred from attending tomorrow's Republic Day parade.
Maharashtra added 28,286 COVID-19 cases, taking its tally to 75,35,511, while 36 fatalities put the total number of deaths at 1,42,151. Mumbai reported under 2,000 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, making it the lowest daily spike in cases in nearly a month for the city.
Delhi added 5,760 new cases, a daily caseload that is 37 per cent down from yesterday's figure (9,197). At 11.79 per cent, the positivity rate (the number of cases detected per 100 tests) saw a dip from 13.3 per cent a day before. The national capital has been seeing a decline in daily infections after witnessing a peak on January 13, when it touched 28,867 daily cases.
In the south, Karnataka reported 46,426 Covid cases in the last 24 hours, three days after the state lifted the weekend curfew. A top government expert told NDTV that the state's cases continue to spike because Karnataka is not following its testing policy. On the other hand, the daily Covid curve in Tamil Nadu saw a marginal improvement with the state registering 30,215 new infections, in comparison to the 30,580 recorded the previous day.
The Omicron variant is in the community transmission stage in the country and has become dominant in several metros where new cases have been spiking exponentially, INSACOG, the Centre's research body, said in its latest bulletin.
The world recorded more than two million daily coronavirus cases on average between January 1 and 7 with figures doubling in 10 days, news agency AFP reported. The virus has killed over 5.6 million people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019.
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