India reports 2.85L new coronavirus cases, positivity rate 16.16%

As India celebrates its 73rd Republic Day, the country on Wednesday reported 2,85,914 new coronavirus cases. 665 fatalities were reported in the past 24 hours, Union Health Ministry data showed.

Active cases declined to 22,23,018, and comprise 5.55 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate has decreased to 93.23 per cent, the ministry said.

Daily positivity rate stands at 16.16 per cent.

A reduction of 13,824 cases has been recorded in the active Covid-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. After five consecutive days, India’s daily Covid-19 count dropped below 3 lakh on Tuesday, but the signs of a spreading epidemic are seen in more than 550 districts where the weekly test positivity rate stands at more than 5 per cent.

At a review meeting with nine northern states including poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya asked them to ramp up tests in those areas where it went down and share the testing and vaccination data with the Centre in time.

Meanwhile the World Health Organization said that the risk level related to the Omicron variant remains very high, with numbers of new Covid-19 cases hitting another record high last week.

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, crossed 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 on May 4 and three crore on June 23

(With inputs from PTI)

Check out the latest DH videos here: