Active COVID-19 cases in country highest in 225 days

New Delhi, Jan 16: India added 2,71,202 new coronavirus infections, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,71,22,164, including 7,743 cases of the Omicron variant, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.
The country saw 1,702 new cases of Omicron variant, the highest in a single day so far, and an increase of 28.17 per cent since Saturday. Experts said it is not possible to undertake genome sequencing of each and every sample, but stressed that this wave is largely being driven by Omicron.
The active cases have increased to 15,50,377, the highest in 225 days, while the death toll has climbed to 4,86,066 with 314 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated. The active cases comprises 4.18 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has decreased to 94.51 per cent, the ministry said. An increase of 1,32,557 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 16.28 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 13.69 per cent, according to the ministry.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,50,85,721, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.31 per cent. The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 156.76 crore.
India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23. (PTI)