New Delhi: India logged 3,17,532 COVID cases and 491 deaths in the last 24 hours, highest in over 249 days. The last time cases in India crossed three lakhs was eight months ago on May 15, 2021. The Omicron tally for the country has also risen to 9,287.
The cumulative vaccine coverage crossed 159.67 Crore in the country with the administration of over 73 lakh doses in the last 24 hours. Over 61 lakh precaution doses have now been administered under the programme started for vulnerable groups on January 10. Meanwhile, over 3.8 Crore children in the age group of 15-18 years or more than 50 per cent have received their first dose of Covaxin.
With several states reporting a rise in daily COVID cases, the active cases mounted to 19,24,051 which is the highest in over 233 days. 2,23,990 recoveries in the last 24 hours takes the recovery rate to 93.69 per cent, which has witnessed a consistent drop since the onset of the third wave. The daily positivity rate stood at 16.41 percent while the weekly positivity rate has risen to 16.06 percent.
Kerala on Wednesday recorded a sharp spike with 34,199 cases being reported with the positivity rate jumping to 37.17 in the state. Health minister Veena George on Wednesday said that both Omicron and Delta variants have been driving the surge in cases and three weeks remain critical for the state. Assam, Gujarat were amongst the other states setting daily cases record. Delhi’s positivity rate on contrast has declined to 23.86 percent with 13,785 new cases on Wednesday.
The Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has recommended full market approval for both Covishield and Covaxin after reviewing data from phase 1, 2 and 3 clinical trials of the vaccine. The vaccines made by Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech have till now been granted Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) and have been deployed in India’s COVID vaccination drive.
