India on Monday reported 2,58,089 new Covid-19 cases and 385 deaths, according to the Union Health Ministry data.
The active Covid-19 cases now stand at 16,56,341, while the overall toll is 4,86,451. The active cases account for 4.43 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate has decreased to 94.27 per cent, the ministry said.
In the last 24 hours, 1,51,740 persons recovered form the virus, taking the overall recovery to 35,237,461.
An increase of 1,05,964 cases has been recorded in the active Covid-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
The daily positivity rate is up from 16.28 per cent to 19.65 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 14.41 per cent.
According to the ministry, 8,209 cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus have been detected across 29 states and union territories so far, out of which 3,109 have recovered or migrated. Maharashtra recorded the maximum 1,738 cases of the Omicron variant, followed by West Bengal 1,672, Rajasthan 1,276, Delhi 549, Karnataka 548 and Kerala 536 cases.
According to experts, it is not possible to undertake genome sequencing of each and every sample but this current wave is largely being driven by Omicron.
The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 157.20 crore.
With the daily Covid-19 count showing a decline in Delhi and Mumbai, medical experts on Sunday said they were cautiously optimistic that the two metropolises may have reached the peak of the Omicron-driven third wave as the test positivity rate remained stable for Delhi and nosedived in Mumbai.
However, because of a drop in the number of tests due to a change in the government strategy, they said it would be better to wait for some time for a definite answer on the trend, which they described as “positive” that matched with a Covid-19 model forecast.
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; 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 two crore infections on May 4 and three crore cases on June 23.
(With inputs from PTI)
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