India’s COVID cases continued to rise on a daily basis with 13,216 new cases recorded on Saturday. This is the first time in 113 days that India has recorded over 13,000 cases. The death toll increased to 5,24,840 with 23 fresh fatalities, according to the data released by the Union health ministry.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.73 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 2.47 per cent, the ministry said. The active cases comprise 0.16 per cent of the total infections. The national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.63 per cent, the ministry said.
The health ministry said the number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,26,90,845. The case fatality rate stood at 1.21 per cent. The cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide inoculation drive have exceeded 196 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 2 crore on May 4, 3 crore on June 23 and 4 crore on January 25 this year. The 23 new fatalities include 13 from Kerala, three from Maharashtra, two from Karnataka and one each from Delhi, Meghalaya, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
Of the 5,24,840 deaths recorded so far in the country, 1,47,883 were from Maharashtra, 69,866 from Kerala, 40,112 from Karnataka, 38,026 from Tamil Nadu, 26,226 from Delhi, 23,526 from Uttar Pradesh and 21,207 from West Bengal.
The health 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 the state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.
Otherside, According to the data by the US’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, subtypes BA.4 and BA.5 are driving the surge in Covid-19 cases in the US. Subtypes BA.4 and BA.5 account for 21 per cent of the cases in the country.
Since March, 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been monitoring the BA.4 and BA.5, which are Variants of Interest, but Europe calls it a Variant of Concern, raising worries about it being a driver of another wave in Europe.
“BA.2 is dominant worldwide and BA.2.12.1 is dominant in the U.S., BA.4 and BA.5 are increasing around the world,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for Covid-19 response at the WHO early this week.
