Coronavirus: India logs huge spike in daily COVID-19 cases with 13,154 new cases; Omicron tally at 961

India has reported 13,154 new Covid cases and 268 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry data on Thursday.  

India on Thursday reported a huge spike in daily Covid-19 cases with 13,154 people testing positive for coronavirus. The total tally of Covid-19 cases rose to 3,48,22,040, while the number of deaths climbed to 4,80,860 with 268 fresh fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

Maharashtra was among several states which reported a sharp spike in Covid-19 cases on Wednesday. Delhi reported 923 fresh cases, which marked a steep rise from the 496 detected a day earlier. The positivity rate also jumped up to 1.29%. Among other cities, Mumbai registered a huge spike, recording 2,510 cases. Moreover, 400 infections were detected in Bengaluru, 540 in Kolkata and 294 in Chennai.

Meanwhile, 961 cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus have been recorded across 22 states and UTs so far out of which 320 people have recovered or migrated, the data stated. Delhi recorded the maximum number of 263 cases followed by Maharashtra at 257, Gujarat 97, Rajasthan 69 and Kerala 65.

The number of active cases stood at 82,402, with an increase of 5,400 cases in a span of 24 hours. A total of 7,486 recoveries in the last 24 hours increased the total recoveries to 3,42,58,778. The active cases comprise 0.24 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate has improved to 98.38 per cent, the health ministry said.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) data, a total of 11,99,252 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours. India has so far conducted over 67.64 crore (67,64,45,395) cumulative tests. So far India’s Covid-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 143.83 crore (1,43,83,22,742), with the administration of 63,91,282 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours under nationwide vaccination drive.