India reports 2.47 lakh new Covid cases, highest in 216 days

PTI, Jan 13, 2022, 10:42 AM IST

New Delhi: India logged 2,47,417 new coronavirus infections, the highest in 236 days, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,63,17,927 which includes 5,488 cases of the Omicron variant, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

The country saw a single-day jump of 620 cases of the Omicron variant, the highest so far, taking the total tally of such cases to 5,488, out of which 2,162 people have recovered or migrated so far.

The active cases have increased to 11,17,531, the highest in 216 days, while the death toll has climbed to 4,85,035 with 380 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

Maharashtra recorded the maximum number of 1,367 cases of Omicron variant followed by Rajasthan at 792, Delhi 549, Kerala 486 and Karnataka 479.

The active cases comprise 3.08 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate decreased to 95.59 per cent, the ministry said.

A total 2,57,299 coronavirus infections were reported in a single day on May 21.

An increase of 1,62,212 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

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.