Active COVID-19 Cases Highest In 237 Days

India added 3,37,704 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,89,03,731, which includes 10,050 cases of the Omicron variant, according to Union health ministry data updated on Saturday.

The active cases have increased to 21,13,365, the highest in 237 days, while the death toll has climbed to 4,88,884 with 488 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

There has been a 3.69 per cent increase in Omicron cases since Friday, the ministry said.

The active cases comprise 5.43 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has decreased to 93.31 per cent, the ministry said.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 17.22 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 16.65 per cent.

The data stated that 71.34 crore tests have been conducted so far and 19,60,954 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours.

So far, 161.16 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered, it said

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, 2020.

India crossed two crore cases on May 4 and three crore cases on June 23 last year.

The 488 new fatalities include 106 from Kerala, 52 from Maharashtra, 38 from Delhi and 35 from West Bengal.

A total of 4,88,884 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,42,023 from Maharashtra, 51,607 from Kerala, 38,537 from Karnataka, 37,145 from Tamil Nadu, 25,541 from Delhi, 23,022 from Uttar Pradesh and 20,265 from West Bengal.

The ministry said that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.