At least 2,539 new COVID-19 cases recorded in India on Wednesday, taking the total number of infections to 4,30,01,477. While death count rose to 5,16,132 with 60 fresh Covid-related fatalities.
According to the health ministry, the active cases comprise 0.08 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate further improved to 98.72 per cent.
A reduction of 1,106 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours, it said.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,24,50,055 and the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.20 per cent, the ministry said.
Global Covid case surge due to the Omicron variant led to a peak six times the previous waves but India managed to control its spread causing lower hospitalisation and fewer deaths than earlier surges, the government said on Thursday.
With 3,536 cases reported on an average in the week ending March 15, India contributed to only 0.21 per cent of global cases, the Union health ministry said.
It pointed out that many countries are still experiencing a rise in cases which is higher than their previous surges. “Not only the reported peak in India was much lower, the consistent efforts also led to a decreasing trajectory soon.
Delhi reported 144 COVID-19 cases and one fatality, while the positivity rate stood at 0.39 per cent, according to data shared by the health department on Thursday.
This data pertains to the cases reported on Tuesday as the Delhi government did not issue the health bulletin on Wednesday.
Including the latest reported cases, the national capital’s case count increased to 18,63,345, while the death toll rose to 26,144, the health bulletin stated.
Meanwhile, on the first day of vaccination for children, more than two lakh vaccine doses were administered with the first dose, said the Ministry of Health and family welfare in an official statement on Thursday.
On the first day, 2,60,136 children between the age group of 12-14 with the first dose of COVID -19 vaccines were administered.
A fourth dose of existing mRNA Covid-19 vaccines may have only “marginal benefits” for younger, healthy adults, according to a new Israeli study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
