Positivity rate in India rises to 21%
Amid rising Covid-19 positivity rate in India, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday noted that the increase in infections in South-East Asia is mainly driven by India, with 150 per cent increase in numbers in the last one week. To drive home its point, the WHO said that India reported 15,94,160 new cases in the week that ended on January 23 as compared to 6,38,872 cases it recorded the previous week.
On Monday, India reported over three lakh new Covid-19 infections for the fifth straight day, though in actual numbers it was almost 8 per cent less than the previous day. The daily positivity rate - the share of coronavirus tests that return positive and considered a key marker of the pandemic’s status is up from 17.78 per cent to 20.75 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 17.03 per cent.
The Omicron variant is also constantly moving northwards with infection prevalent in almost all the States. The WHO also said that the Omicron variant of coronavirus has now been reported in 171 countries in the world.
Though the variant has a lower risk of severe disease and death following infection, the overall risk related to Omicron remains very high. INSACOG, the Government’s research body has already said in its latest bulletin that the Omicron variant is in the community transmission stage in the country and has become dominant in several metros where new cases have been spiking exponentially.
“Despite a lower risk of severe disease and death following infection than previous SARS-CoV-2 variants, the very high levels of transmission nevertheless have resulted in significant increases in hospitalisation, continue to pose overwhelming demands on health care systems in most countries, and may lead to significant morbidity, particularly in vulnerable populations,” the WHO said.
In India, with the addition of 3.06 lakh cases reported on Monday, the Covid tally in India -- the second worst-hit country after the US -- now stands at 3.95 crore.
The active cases now comprise 5.69 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has decreased to 93.07 per cent.
As many as 439 people have died of Covid during the past 24-hour period, according to the Health Ministry. At least 60 per cent of the patients who died during the current wave of Covid pandemic were either partially or fully unvaccinated, said the government in a statement.
Maharashtra added 40,805 COVID-19 cases, taking its tally to 75,07,225, while 44 fatalities put the total number of deaths at 1,42,115. Delhi added 9,197 new cases, which is 19 per cent lower than yesterday’s number (11,486). At 13.3 per cent, the positivity rate (the number of cases detected per 100 tests) saw a dip from 16.3 per cent a day before. The national capital also reported 35 Covid deaths in the last 24 hours. The number of daily cases in Delhi has been declining after touching the record high of 28,867 on January 13.
In the south, Karnataka reported 50,210 Covid cases in the last 24 hours, two days after the State lifted the weekend curfew. Presently, there are as many over 3.57 lakh active cases in the state. On the other hand, the daily Covid curve in Tamil Nadu saw a marginal improvement with the state registering 30,580 new infections.
