India records 236 Omicron cases, active COVID-19 tally up to 78k

India has recorded 236 cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus across 16 states and UTs so far, out of which 104 people have recovered or migrated, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

Maharashtra has recorded 65 cases of the Omicron variant, the maximum number of cases in the country, followed by Delhi at 64, Telangana 24, Karnataka 19, Rajasthan 21, and Kerala 15.

The ministry data updated at 8 am also showed that India recorded 7,495 new COVID-19 infections, taking the total tally of cases to 3,47,65,976, while the active cases increased to 78,291.

The death toll has climbed to 4,78,759 with 434 fresh fatalities.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been recorded below 15,000 for the last 56 days now.

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“The active cases comprise 0.23 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has further improved to 98.40 per cent, the highest since March 2020,” the ministry said.

An increase of 101 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.62 per cent. It has been less than two per cent for last 80 days.

The weekly positivity rate was also recorded at 0.59 per cent. It has been below one per cent for the last 39 days.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,42,08,926, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.38 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 139.70 crore.

India’s COVID-19 tally surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.  India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.

The 434 new fatalities include 383 from Kerala and eight each from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

“Of the 383 deaths in Kerala, 36 were recorded over the last few days and 347 were designated as COVID-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the directions of the Supreme Court,” a Kerala state government release said on Wednesday.

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A total of 4,78,759 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,41,375 from Maharashtra, 45,538 from Kerala, 38,299 from Karnataka, 36,699 from Tamil Nadu, 25,102 from Delhi, 22,915 from Uttar Pradesh, and 19,696 from West Bengal.

The ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

(With inputs from Agencies)