Covid surge: Weekly case positivity rate of over 10% seen in 8 districts, says govt

The Union Health Ministry on Thursday reviewed the COVID-19 situation in the country, especially in the context of Omicron variant, the new, highly contagious virus strain which is spreading across states.

Speaking at the routine press briefing, Luv Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health Ministry said that on average, India reported more than 8,000 cases per day last week. Overall case positivity rate stands at 0.92 per cent, he said, adding that from December 26 onwards, the country has been reporting 10,000 daily cases.

The health ministry also added that the weekly positivity rate of more than 10 per cent is being noted in 8 districts including 6 districts from Mizoram, one from Arunachal Pradesh, Kolkata in West Bengal. Moreover, the weekly case positivity rate is between 5 per cent and 10 per cent in 14 districts.

It also cautioned that Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Karnataka and Gujarat are emerging as states/UTs of concern on basis of weekly COVID-19 cases and positivity.

Besides this, Aggarwal also stated that rising trends of cases are being seen in Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai Suburban and Gurugram.

On the Covid-19 vaccination front, the ministry informed that approximately 90 per cent of the adult population in India has been vaccinated against COVID-19 with the first dose.

Meanwhile, India recorded the highest single-day rise of Omicron infections with 180 fresh cases, taking the total tally of such infections in the country to 961, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated today.

The 961 cases have been detected across 22 states and UTs so far, and 320 people have recovered or migrated.

The daily rise in COVID-19 cases crossed the 13,000-mark after around 49 days, taking the total tally to 3,48,22,040, while the active cases increased to 82,402, according to the data updated at 8 am.  The number of deaths has climbed to 4,80,860 with 268 fresh fatalities, the data stated.