India reports 2.38 lakh new Covid cases, 310 more deaths

PTI, Jan 18, 2022, 10:25 AM IST

New Delhi: With 2,38,018 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, India’s total tally of Covid cases rose to 3,76,18,271, which includes 8,891 cases of the omicron variant, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

The active cases have increased to 17,36,628, the highest in 230 days, while the death toll has climbed to 4,86,761 with 310 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

There has been an 8.31 per cent increase in omicron cases since Monday, the ministry said.

Experts said it is not possible to undertake genome sequencing of each and every sample but stressed that the current wave is largely being driven by the omicron variant.

The active cases comprised 4.62 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid recovery rate had decreased to 94.09 per cent, the ministry said.

An increase of 80,287 cases has been recorded in the active Covid caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The 310 new fatalities include 72 from Kerala and 33 from West Bengal.

A total of 4,86,761 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,41,832 from Maharashtra, 50,904 from Kerala, 38,445 from Karnataka, 37,009 from Tamil Nadu, 25,387 from Delhi, 22,972 from Uttar Pradesh and 20,121 from West Bengal.