Dip in infections, positivity rate still high as India records 525 deaths

There was a slight decrease in the number of new Covid-19 cases on Saturday as India recorded 3,33,533 new cases compared to Saturday's tally. The death toll spiked to 4,89,409 with 525 new fatalities.

The daily active cases surged by 73,840, taking the active caseload to 21,87,205. The active cases account for 5.57 % of total infections. A total of 2,59,168 recoveries were recorded in the last 24 hours, the health bulletin stated.

At the same time, the daily positivity rate increased marginally to 17.78 %, as compared to Saturday when it stood at 17.22%. The weekly positivity rate stands at 16.87%. Recovery rate stands at 93.18%.

Major metros saw less alarming rates of new cases, with Mumbai having recorded an 83% drop in case since the last two weeks. The new caseload in Mumbai is 3,568 on Saturday. Delhi has only seen a marginal increase in cases on Saturday as 11,486 fresh ingections were recorded. A total of 45 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, the highest since June 5 last year.

Maharashtra saw 46,393 new cases in a day. The state's active cases currently stands at 2,79,930. Till date, a total of 2759 patients infected with Omicron Variant have been reported in the state; out of these 416 cases were reported on January 22.

Kerala continued to record steep rise in Covid-19 cases with 45,136 new positive cases being reported on Saturday, taking the tally to 55,74,702. The health department said the state had tested 1,00735 samples in the last 24 hours and there are 2,47,227 active COVID-19 cases in Kerala.

Strict lockdowns have been enforced across the state on Sunday with grocery, medical and essential supply shops open only from 9 AM to 7 PM and restaurants only allowed parcel delivery service. The health department on Saturday instructed private hospitals in the state to set aside 50 per cent of beds for COVID-19 patients.

India has administered over 80 lakh doses of the Covid-19 vaccine's booster dose since January 10, when the campaign to vaccinate the frontline workers, healthcare workers and elderly with a third dose began.

Moreover, 71,10,445 vaccine doses were administered in the last 24 hours, taking India's vaccination coverage past 161.92 crore.