2.59 lakh new Covid cases in last 24 hours
Categories: Covid 19
India recorded 2,58,089 new Covid cases in the last 24 hours, data from the Union Health Ministry revealed on Monday. As many as 8,209 Omicron cases have been detected so far, an increase of 6.02% since the previous day. The number of Covid casualties for the 24-hour period was recorded at 385. The positivity rate now stands at 19.65%. India's Active caseload currently stands at 16,56,341.As many as 1,51,740 recoveries were recorded in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 3,52,37,461, India's recovery rate is now at 94.27%.On the vaccination front, as many as 157.20 cr doses have been administered so far under the nationwide vaccination drive that began on January 16, 2021.Testing continues to be in focus. A total of 70.37 crore tests have been conducted so far, with 13,13,444 tests having been conducted in the last 24 hours. India's 'R-value', which indicates how rapidly Covid-19 is spreading, dropped to 2.2 between January 7 and 13, according to a preliminary analysis by IIT Madras.While the number of daily Covid cases dropped from 2,71,202 on Sunday to 2,58,089 on Monday, the number of Omicron infections increased from 7,743 to 8,209. So far, eight Covid-19 vaccines have been approved for emergency use in India. These are Serum Institute of India’s Covishield, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, Russia’s Sputnik V, Moderna, Johnson and Johnson’s single-dose vaccine, Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D, Serum Institute of India’s Covovax and Biological E’s Corbevax.Covaxin and Covishield have been approved for the booster shots that are being administered to health and frontline workers, and people aged 60 and above with comorbidities.Several states have enforced Covid restrictions (see map), but crowding is still a challenge across India.The vaccination drive for the 15-18 age group started on January 3 and over 3.3 crore teenagers have received their first jab.