New Delhi: India recorded 1,17,000 fresh Covid cases on Friday. A week ago India had reached 10,000 mark. The new variant is creating more vulnerable situation.
This is the first time in seven months that daily cases crossed the one-lakh mark in the country. On June 6, 2021, India had reported 1,14,460 new cases. The 28 per cent jump in new cases today has pushed the country’s total caseload to 3.52 crore.
With a single-day jump of 377 Omicron, India now has 3,007 cases of the new variant of coronavirus. Omicron has been reported in 27 states, with the most cases in Maharashtra with 876 cases, followed by Delhi with 465 infections.
Maharashtra, one of the worst-hit states by the Covid pandemic, added 36,265 today. Of these, 20,181 were reported in Mumbai alone. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will take a decision on lockdown in Mumbai, state health minister Rajesh Tope said.
Delhi reported over 15,000 cases of coronavirus in 24 hours – the highest since May 8. The national capital’s daily cases jumped a whopping 41.5 per cent in a day as 15,097 infections were detected in the city. This comes a day after the city witnessed its biggest single-day spike – 10,665 cases – in nearly eight months. The positivity rate has surpassed 15 per cent.
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.
As many as 302 people have died of Covid during the past 24-hour period, according to the Health Ministry. This includes 221 deaths in Kerala in the last few months, added based on pending appeals after the last Supreme Court guidelines.
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. Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India’s top medical body, has said that “the Omicron variant is the predominant circulating strain”
The Omicron variant is killing people across the globe and should not be dismissed as mild, the World Health Organization has said.
With several cities imposing coronavirus curfews and health experts warning of exponential infection growth, several parties have brought their public campaigns to a halt.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the record numbers of people catching the new variant meant hospitals were being overwhelmed.
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