NEW DELHI: India logged 2,47,417 new coronavirus infections, the highest in 236 days, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,63,17,927 which includes 5,488 cases of the Omicron variant, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.
The country saw a single day jump of 620 cases of the Omicron variant, the highest so far, taking the total tally of such cases to 5,488, out of which 2,162 people have recovered or migrated so far.
The active cases have increased to 11,17,531, the highest in 216 days, while the death toll has climbed to 4,85,035 with 380 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.
Maharashtra recorded the maximum number of 1,367 cases of the Omicron variant followed by Rajasthan at 792, Delhi 549, Kerala 486 and Karnataka 479.
The active cases comprise 3.08 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate decreased to 95.59 per cent, the ministry said.
A total of 2,57,299 coronavirus infections were reported in a single day on May 21 last year.
An increase of 1,62,212 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 13.11 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 10.80 per cent, according to the ministry.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,47,15,361 while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.34 per cent.
The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 154.61 crore.
India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.
It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.
India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.
The 380 new fatalities include 199 from Kerala and 40 from Delhi.
A total of 4,85,035 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,41,701 from Maharashtra, 50,076 from Kerala, 38,389 from Karnataka, 36,905 from Tamil Nadu, 25,240 from Delhi, 22,940 from Uttar Pradesh and 19,959 from West Bengal.
The ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.
"Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.
Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage crossed 154.50 crore on Wednesday with more than 66 lakh vaccine doses being administered till 7 pm, the Union Health Ministry said.
More than 26,19,670 precaution doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to healthcare workers, frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities since January 10.
Also, 2,96,94,734 first doses have been given to beneficiaries in the 15-18 years age group so far.
As many as 66,77,685 doses were administered by 7 pm on Wednesday.
The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports by late night.
The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 last year with healthcare workers (HCWs) getting inoculated in the first phase.
The vaccination of frontline workers (FLWs) started from February 2 last year.
The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from March 1, 2021 for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.
The country launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1, 2021.
The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 to be vaccinated from May 1 last year.
The next phase of vaccination has commenced from January 3 this year for adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years.
India began administering precaution dose of COVID-19 vaccine to healthcare workers, frontline workers, including personnel deployed for election duty and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities, from January 10 amid the country witnessing a spike in coronavirus infections fuelled by Omicron variant of the virus.