India recorded 3,47,254 new Covid-19 cases, 703 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the total death toll to 4,88,396, according to the data released by the Ministry of Health on Friday (January 21, 2022). The active cases stand at 20,18,825.
An increase of 94,774 cases has been recorded in the active Covid-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The country also recorded 2,51,777 recoveries today, taking the total number of recoveries to 3,60,58,80.
The health ministry Thursday said the third wave triggered by the highly-infectious Omicron variant has spread to almost all parts of the country. The health ministry said that a sharp surge in Covid-19 cases continued to be noted in India, with the weekly positivity rate touching almost 16% mark in the last one week.
“The pandemic situation shows that the third surge is now spreading in almost all parts of the country. It is also clear that the deaths are low. Vaccination has acted as a shield…the mortality is significantly low…However, the overall positivity of 16% is quite high. There are some states with 50% percent positivity (Goa)….the virus is spreading rapidly. Vaccination and masking have to be adopted. We cannot lower the guard,” Dr V K Paul, head of India’s Covid-19 task force, said.
“On April 30, there were 3.86 new cases reported every day during the second surge, there were around 3,000 deaths. During the period of April 1 to April 30, only 2% in the country were vaccinated. On January 20, there are 3.17 lakh new cases and 380 deaths. At present, 72% have been completely vaccinated. Two aspects emerge from this comparison: compared to the second surge, the number of deaths proportional to the active cases is significantly low; second….there is an impact of vaccination. In the fully vaccinated, the disease is mild or moderate. That’s why it is important that those who haven’t been vaccinated should get it,” Bhushan said.
Bhushan also emphasised that the symptoms have been milder during the current surge. “Around 99% adults have fever, with or without rigors (shivering), cough, and irritation in the throat. And, usually by fifth day, the symptoms are resolving. There are muscular weakness and tiredness. These are the symptoms we are seeing during the current surge in Delhi and we think the entire country (as well). In paediatric patients, those between the ages of 11 and 18 years, fever and upper respiratory tract infection is common, meaning the infection is not affecting the lungs. And, cases of Covid-19 pneumonia are also very less,” he said.
With the administration of more than 70 lakh Doses (70,49,779) vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 160.43 Cr (1,60,43,70,484) as per provisional reports till 7 am today.
This has been achieved through 1,72,80,628 sessions. 2,51,777 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours and the cumulative tally of recovered patients (since the beginning of the pandemic) is now at 3,60,58,806.
Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 93.50%.
#Unite2FightCorona#OmicronVariant
➡️ India’s Active Caseload currently at 20,18,825.
➡️ Active Cases presently constitute 5.23% of Total Cases. pic.twitter.com/RddkIjCOKF
— Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) January 21, 2022
3,47,254 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours.
India’s Active Caseload is presently at 20,18,825. Active cases constitute 5.23% of the country’s total Positive Cases.
The testing capacity across the country continues to be expanded. The last 24 hours saw a total of 19,35,912 tests being conducted. India has so far conducted over 71.15 Cr (71,15,38,938) cumulative tests.
While testing capacity has been enhanced across the country, Weekly Positivity Rate in the country currently stands at 16.56% and the Daily Positivity rate also reported to be 17.94%.