India's daily Covid cases decline to 1.68 lakh, death count rises to 277

By Livemint

India's Covid-19 cases reach total of 35.88 million (Ayush Sharma)

India reported a decline in daily Covid-19 cases on Tuesday. The country reported 168,063 coronavirus cases and 277 deaths in a span of 24 hours. Yesterday, India had added 1,79,723 Covid cases. The number of Omicron tally surged to 4,461 after 428 new cases were recorded in a day. The daily active cases have jumped to 97,827, comprising 2.29% of the cumulative Covid-19 cases in the country. Altogether, India's active caseload stands at 8,21,446, as of January 11. The total number of death counts has also increased to 4,84,213. On the other hand, 69,959 people got recovered from the fatal infection in the past 24 hours, which is 96.36% of the total caseload.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), as many as 13,52,717 Covid tests were conducted in a day. Overall, the country has conducted 69,15,75,352 tests. The Covid vaccination coverage has also expanded with 152.78 crore doses administered in 360 days. Cumulatively, 88.97 crore people have received the first dose of the vaccine while 63.71 crore people have been fully vaccinated.

Yesterday, the ICMR came out with a new advisory that contacts of confirmed COVID cases do not need to get tested unless identified as "high risk" based on age or comorbidities.

According to the Centre, the Covid-19 hospitalisation rate is between 5 and 10% currently, but the situation is dynamic and may change rapidly, it added. In a letter to states and union territories. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that during the second surge of Covid infections in the country, the percentage of active cases that needed hospital care was in the range of 20-23%. However, the Centre has asked states to keep a watch on cases under home isolation and in hospitals.

India's Covid-19 data as of January 11, 2022