Covid-19 fourth wave scare! India reports 16,135 fresh cases, 24 deaths in 24 hours

NEW DELHI: India on Monday reported 16,135 new cases of Covid-19 infections in the last 24 hours with a positivity rate of 4.85 per cent. According to the Health Ministry data updated at 8 AM today, the country also witnessed 13,958 recoveries and 24 deaths during this period. With this, there are 1,13,864 active cases now.

#COVID19 | India reports 16,135 fresh cases, 13,958 recoveries and 24 deaths, in the last 24 hours.

Active cases 1,13,864
Daily positivity rate 4.85% pic.twitter.com/TgcnBrAd7Z — ANI (@ANI) July 4, 2022

Interestingly, the country has also registered the highest Covid-19 weekly count in over four months in the week ending on July 3 (Sunday), surpassing one lack coronavirus cases. Few states like West Bengal and Odisha that are witnessing Rath Yatra festivities and flood-hit Assam have reported a surge in Covid-19 cases.

Meanwhile, states like Maharashtra and Delhi, which were earlier reporting a spike in cases, have shown a decline in the graph. Besides, in an alarming pattern, at least 192 deaths were reported during the June 27-3 July week, which amounts to a rise of over 54% in comparison to 125 in the last week.

Delhi reported 648 new Covid-19 cases Sunday and 5 related deaths, according to the health department. The positivity rate stands at 4.29 per cent, it added. Meanwhile, Mumbai recorded 761 fresh Covid-19 cases.

The Health Ministry on Saturday released data on India’s cumulative vaccination coverage. According to the data, more than 8 lakh vaccine doses were administered on July 2, 2022. India’s Covid-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 197.94 Crore (1,97,94,45,839) as on July 2.

Meanwhile, an Israeli health expert on Sunday said that India has a new sub-variant of the highly contagious Omicron lineage of coronavirus, BA.2.75, reported IANS. 

As per the expert, the new Omicron sub-variant is already present and has been detected in about 10 Indian states. This included 69 such cases from India were Delhi (1), Haryana (6), Himachal Pradesh (3), Jammu (1), Karnataka (10), Madhya Pradesh (5), Maharashtra (27), Telangana (2), Uttar Pradesh (1), and West Bengal (13). 

On the other hand, the Indian Health Ministry is yet to officially confirm the detection of the sub-variant in the country.