India sees massive jump in Covid tally with 37,379 new cases; Omicron count nears 2,000
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New Delhi: India on Tuesday reported 37,379 new Covid cases, highest since early September while the active cases rose to 1,71,830, according to the Union health ministry data.
As many as 124 new fatalities due to Covid-19 were reported in the last 24 hours, one less than the preceding day, taking the death toll in India to 482,017. However, the only positive signal that remains in the latest updates is the new recoveries that saw a jump to 11,007 from Monday's 10,846. The total number of patients who recovered from the virus now stands at 3,43,06,414.
A total of 68,24,28,595 samples have been tested for Covid-19 in the country so far, of which, 11,54,302 were done in the last 24 hours.
The active cases comprise 0.49 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate is at 98.13 per cent, the health ministry said.
A total of 1,892 cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus have been detected across 23 states and Union Territories so far, out of which 766 have recovered or migrated, according to the Union health ministry's data updated on Tuesday.
Maharashtra has recorded the maximum number of 568 cases, followed by Delhi (382), Kerala (185), Rajasthan (174), Gujarat (152), and Tamil Nadu (121).
A large chunk of Omicron cases in India as the country faces a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic have been reported from big cities, the head of the country's vaccine task force told NDTV today, adding the third wave of the pandemic is very much here.
Further, India's Covid-19 vaccination coverage has surpassed the 146 crore-mark with more than 57 lakh adult eligible beneficiaries getting inoculated in the past 24 hours. From Monday onwards, vaccination for individuals aged 15-18 also began and on the launch day, as many as 42,06,433 people were administered the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Thus, in the last 24 hours, 99,27,797 vaccine shots were jabbed to all eligible beneficiaries.
Meanwhile, Molnupiravir, the antiviral drug which recently got emergency use approval for treatment of mild to moderate Covid-19 in India, was launched on Monday at Rs 1,399 for the full five-day course, making it one of the cheapest antiviral coronavirus therapies during the pandemic.