Country sees 1.79 lakh fresh Covid cases, 146 deaths; likely to witness massive spike
For the first time since the third Covid-19 wave hit the country, the number of daily cases has shown a decline in several States such as Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka, West Bengal and Gujarat among others. However, experts feel that cases will again spike on Tuesday as Monday’s report was the outcome of lowest testing on weekend.
The country recorded 1,79,723 new coronavirus cases on Monday, raising the tally to 3.57 crore. This included 4,033 cases of Omicron variant reported across 27 States and Union Territories.
The country reported 146 deaths linked to the virus. The steep rise in the past week was primarily due to the case surge in urban centres such as Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Chennai.
On Monday, Delhi saw a dip reporting 19,166 cases during the last 24 hours. The national Capital reported 22,751 cases in the last 24 hours. The positivity rate in Delhi stood at 25 per cent, the highest since May 5. The city also reported 17 deaths.
There are currently 65,806 active Covid patients in the Capital, the highest since May 15. As many as 44,028 patients are in home-isolation and the recovery rate stands at 94.20 per cent. Around 14,076 patients were discharged in the past 24 hours.
Mumbai saw a dip in coronavirus cases for the third day running recording 13,648 cases on Monday. This is around 30 per cent lower than Sunday’s count. But the positivity rate stood at a very high at 23 per cent. Mumbai on Monday reported 13,648 new Covid-19 cases, around 30 per cent or 5,826 less cases than the previous day count. The city’s tally of infections now stands at 9,28,220 and the death toll at 16,411.
Maharashtra on Monday reported 33,470 new Covid-19 cases, which is nearly 11,000 lower than the previous day count.
West Bengal recorded around 19,286 cases on Monday, lower than Sunday’s number of 24,000 plus cases. The State saw 8,187 recoveries and 16 deaths.
Karnatala case count also came down slightly from 12,000 plus cases on Sunday to 11,698 new cases and 4 deaths in the last 24 hours. Karnataka Chief Minister M Basavaraj Bommai also tested positive for Covid-19 “with mild symptoms”. But daily cases increased slightly in Tamil Nadu from 12,000 plus on Sunday to 13,990 new cases, 2,547 recoveries, and 11 deaths, in the last 24 hours. Active cases stood at 62,767.
Gujarat reports 6,097 new Covid cases and 2 deaths in 24 hours.
Concerned at the rising cases, Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya in a meeting with health ministers of five States and one UT asked them not to drop their guard. “Let there be no lapses in our preparedness as we battle this surge of the pandemic. Holistic synergy between Centre and States is most vital for seamless and effective pandemic management,” he said.
The States were Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
Meanwhile, the ICMR has said that contacts of confirmed Covid cases do not need to get tested unless identified as “high risk” based on age or comorbidities. The ICMR Advisory on Purposive Testing Strategy for Covid-19 said individuals undertaking inter-State domestic travels also do not need to get tested.
It said testing can be undertaken either through RT-PCR, TrueNat, CBNAAT, CRISPR, RT-LAMP, Rapid Molecular Testing Systems or through Rapid Antigen Test (RAT). A positive point-of-care test [home or self-test/RAT] and molecular test is to be considered confirmatory, without any repeat testing, the advisory by the ICMR said.
The ICMR advisory comes in view of sharp transmission of the virus in the community across the States which are reporting spurt in cases. Notably, the test positivity rate crossed the 10 per cent mark in the country. That is, every 100 tests now yield 10 positive cases.
Between January 4 and 8, Mumbai recorded more than 86,000 cases, a 150 per cent increase in infections compared to the week before. Delhi recorded about 68,000 new cases, a 350 percent rise. Bengaluru registered close to 24,000 cases, a 400 per cent increase. In the same period, Chennai saw 17,247 infections, a 350 per cent increase compared to the past week. With nearly 45,000 new infections, Maharashtra’s active cases breach 2 lakh-mark.
Andhra Pradesh reported 1,257 COVID-19 infections and two deaths in the 24 hours ending Sunday morning. The single-day tally crossed 1,000 for the first time in 101 days since October 1, 2021. At 3.27 per cet, the positivity rate was also the highest in the past 180 days. The number of active cases tripled in just five days from 1,848 on January 5 to 4,774 on Sunday.
The number of active cases in Bihar until January 8 was 12,311, with over 7,000 in Patna district. More than 350 doctors and medical staff in the state have tested positive, most of whom were from Nalanda Medical College and Hospital. In addition, some staff of a private airline working at the Patna airport was also tested positive.
In Gujarat, the case count increased by 6,275, while 1,263 patients recovered. As a result, active cases neared the 28,000-mark, of which 26 patients were on ventilator support.