Daily new cases in the country slipped to below 1,000, the first time it touched three digits since April 2020, according to figures from the Health Ministry. The active caseload declined to 12,597 and they constitute about 0.03% of the number of positive cases.
The weekly positive rate, a more consistent indicator of the trend in coronavirus cases, has only dipped to 0.22%. Thirteen new deaths pushed the official tally to 5,21,358.
Along with nearly 184 crore vaccine doses, the country has administered over 79 crore tests.
In U.S., West
The United States reports close to 30,000 cases a day as the virus continues to spread with cases surging in several parts of Europe, the United Kingdom and China. China reported 13,000 cases on Sunday, the highest since the peak of first wave in Wuhan with severe lockdowns being imposed in major cities.
The United Kingdom too is seeing nearly 20,000 cases a day, with reports with the World Health Organisation (WHO) warning against a new mutant ‘XE’ variant of Omicron that may be more transmissible than any strain of COVID-19 seen before. However this variant, despite being labelled as a variant of concern, is yet to be reported in India.
Germany has reported 41,129 fresh cases, taking the total tally to 21,668,677 cases. As per the WHO, BA.2, a subvariant of the Omicron strain, is the most dominant strain of the virus, being 86 per cent of all sequenced cases attributed to it.
While XE only accounts for a small fraction of the cases, it is 10% more transmissible than BA.2 and and could soon become the most dominant strain, reports note.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has recommended to the States that all COVID-19-linked restrictions be withdrawn though it has advised that people continue to wear masks at public gatherings.
