India reports 6,358 new COVID cases, Omicron tally at 653; Kejriwal calls meeting over Delhi's pandemic situation
NEW DELHI: A total of 6,358 new COVID-19 cases were reported in India in the last 24 hours, taking the active caseload in the country to 75,456, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday.
According to the Health Ministry, 653 cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus have been reported in the country so far.
Out of this, Maharashtra topped the list with 167 cases followed by Delhi with 165 cases, Kerala with 57 cases and Telangana has confirmed 55 cases.
The active cases account for less than 1 per cent of total cases and is currently at 0.22 per cent, which is the lowest since March 2020.
With the recovery of 6,450 patients in the last 24 hours, the cumulative tally of recovered patients since the beginning of the pandemic has increased to 3,42,43,945.
The current recovery rate at 98.40 per cent which is the highest since the beginning of the pandemic.
The weekly positivity rate is at 0.64 per cent remains less than 1 per cent for the last 44 days now, while, the daily positivity rate reported being 0.61 per cent. The daily positivity rate has remained below 2 per cent for the last 85 days.
The country also reported 293 new fatalities in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 4,80,290.
India has so far conducted over 67.41 crore cumulative tests.
The country has so far administered 142.47 crore vaccine doses under Nationwide Vaccination Drive.
With the administration of 72,87,547 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage stood at 1,42,46,81,736 crore.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will discuss the existing COVID-19 situation with top officials at a high-level meeting on Tuesday during which a decision is also likely to be taken on implementing the Graded Response Action Plan in Delhi, officials sources said.
The chief minister will chair the meeting at 12 noon.
It will discuss the rising number of COVID-19 cases and threat posed by its new variant Omicron.
Besides, the meeting may decide on sounding the 'Yellow' alert and restrictions according to the GRAP, according to the sources.
The 'yellow' alert is sounded when Covid positivity rate stays over 0.5 per cent on two consecutive days.
It involves restrictions like night curfew, closure of schools and colleges, alternate day opening of shops of non-essential items and halved seating capacity in Metro trains and public transport buses among others.
Delhi on Monday recorded 331 fresh COVID-19 cases, the highest single-day rise since June 9, and one death while the positivity rate mounted to 0.68 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department.
On Sunday, Delhi recorded 290 cases with a positivity rate of 0.55 per cent and one fatality, according to officials figures.
In view of the rising number of COVID-19 cases, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has already imposed night curfew that will remain in force in the city from 11 pm to 5 am, till further orders.
(With PTI Inputs)