India reports 1.41 lakh new Covid-19 cases, active infections soar to 4.72 lakh

As the third Covid-19 wave sets in, the country on Saturday reported 1,41,986 new coronavirus infections and 285 more deaths, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Meanwhile, the Omicron case tally has climbed at 3,071, of which 1,203 have been discharged from hospitals. So far total 27 states have reported the new variant, according to the Ministry.

The total number of active cases jumped to 4,72,169 and death toll to 4,83,178 on Saturday.

At least 40,895 persons recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the overall recoveries to 3,44,12,740. Also in the same period, a total of 15,29,948 tests were conducted across the country, bringing the total to 68.84 crore.

Under the nationwide vaccination campaign, India has administered 150.06 crore doses so far.

Due to the ongoing massive spike of cases, the weekly positivity rate has climbed to 5.66 per cent, while the daily positivity rate stood at 9.28 per cent.

With the administration of over 90 lakhs vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India's Covid inoculation coverage reached 150.61 crore as of Saturday morning.

More than 17.88 crore balance and unutilised doses are still available with the states and UTs, according to the Ministry.

As the Omicron-triggered third Covid wave enters a key phase, a new projection by researchers at the Indian Institute of Science and Indian Statistical Institute (IISc-ISI) claims that the country is likely to witness over 10 lakh Covid cases a day at January-end/beginning of February when the third wave meets its peak. The peak of the third wave will vary for different states and the Covid-19 curve for India could start flattening by March-beginning.

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