New Delhi: India recorded 9,419 fresh infections in the past 24 hours. The recovery rate at 98.36 per cent accounted for 8,251 recuperations in the last 24 hours taking the total recoveries to 3,40,97,388. The daily positivity rate stood at 0.73 per cent, less than 2 per cent for 66 consecutive days.
The number of active cases stood at 94,742, accounting for 0.27 per cent of the total number of cases. The active cases reported a rise by 1009 in the last 24 hours. However, the mortality rate recorded at 1.37 per cent reported a spike in deaths recording 159 fatalities, taking the cumulative death toll to 4,74,111.
The World Health Organization said the omicron variant of the coronavirus may change the course of the pandemic. It called on countries to expedite vaccinations and keep measures in place to protect people from infection. Despite no severity being reported so far, the top health body advices countries to stay alert.
Meanwhile, the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday wrote to states and union territories, stating that patients of the Omicron variant have to be treated in designated Covid facilities with separate isolation area. Measures are to be taken to prevent cross infection and adequate precautions to be followed by healthcare workers in these facilities to prevent transmission among other patients and healthcare workers.
As per the statistics reported to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, so far 130.39 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the country, including 80.86 lakh doses given in the last 24 hours.