India adds 3,33,533 new cases, 525 deaths in last 24 hours; daily positivity rate at 17.78%

JAN 23: India registered 3,33,533 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, slightly lower than the previous day, showed the Union health ministry data updated on Sunday morning. The death toll spiked to 4,89,409 with 525 new fatalities.

The daily active cases surged by 73,840, taking the active caseload to 21,87,205. The active cases account for 5.57 per cent of total infections. A total of 2,59,168 recoveries were recorded in the last 24 hours, the health bulletin stated.

At the same time, the daily positivity rate increased marginally to 17.78 per cent, as compared to Saturday when it stood at 17.22 per cent. The weekly positivity rate stands at 16.87 per cent.

Notably, India is the world's second worst-hit country by the coronavirus pandemic after the United States.

More than 1.6 billion vaccine doses have been administered so far under nationwide vaccination drive. This takes into account 71,10,445 vaccine doses administered in last 24 hours, including 5,42,321 booster or ‘precautionary’ doses.

Among the worst-hit cities, Delhi witnessed a marginal rise with as many as 11,486 fresh infections on Saturday. A total of 45 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, the highest since June 5 last year.

Mumbai, on the other hand, logged a 28 per cent drop in new Covid-19 cases as the city reported 3,568 infections on Saturday. This accounts for an 83 per cent decline from Mumbai's all-time high just two weeks ago. 

Maharashtra continues to be at the top spot of India's Covid-19 hierarchy with 46,393 cases in the last 24 hours, driven by the Omicron surge. Kerala takes the second spot with 45,136 cases, followed by Karnataka with 42,470 cases, Tamil Nadu with 30,744 and Gujarat with 23,150 cases.

Meanwhile, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have reported more than 10,000 cases in the last 24 hours.