India logged 14,506 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases to 4,34,33,345. According to the Union Health Ministry data updated today, the active cases rose to 99,602 today.
The death count climbed to 5,25,077 with 30 new fatalities in India.
The active cases comprise 0.21 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was 98.58 per cent, the ministry said.
Odisha recorded the highest single-day coronavirus cases in four months as 161 more people tested positive for the pathogen, the health department said.
The positivity rate stood at 1.21 per cent as the new cases were detected after testing 13,317 samples.
Khurda reported the highest number of new cases at 60, followed by 32 in Cuttack. Twenty-four children were among the new infections, taking the tally to 12,89,602. On March 1, the state had logged 168 cases and eight deaths. The death count remained at 9,126 as there were no fresh deaths. There are 629 active COVID-19 cases in the state at present.
In the last 24 hours, 49 more people recovered from the disease, taking the total number of recoveries to 12,79,794.
Ladakh recorded 13 new Covid cases that pushed the infection tally to 28,389 today, officials said. All the fresh cases were detected in Leh district, they said. So far, 228 people have succumbed to COVID-19 in Ladakh. Of these, 168 deaths were reported from Leh and 60 from Kargil, according to officials.
The number of active cases stands at 67 — 66 in Leh and one in Kargil, they said.
A total of 408 sample reports were tested in Ladakh, officials said, adding that 349 sample reports in Leh and 46 in Kargil tested negative, they said.
Five people in Leh were discharged after recovering from the infection, taking the overall recoveries to 28,094, officials said.
As many as 1,779 passengers were screened at the Leh airport, 858, including drivers and helpers of trucks and light motor vehicles, were screened at Khaltse and 280 people were screened at the Upshi check-post, they added.
Andaman and Nicobar Islands reported 12 new COVID-19 cases today, six more than the previous day, pushing the tally to 10,149, a health department official said.
Six patients have travel history while six infections were detected during contact tracing, the official said.
The Union Territory now has 38 active COVID-19 cases, while 9,982 people have recovered from the disease, including nine in the last 24 hours, he said. A total of 129 patients have succumbed to the disease till date.
A panel of US medical experts on Tuesday called for Omicron-specific boosters this fall, as anticipation mounts that Covid vaccines will be needed on an ongoing seasonal basis, as is the case for influenza.
