India logs 1,61,386 new Covid-19 cases, positivity drops below 10 per cent

New Delhi, Feb 02: India recorded a total of 1,61,386 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. Active case count dropped to 3.90 per cent, while the daily positivity rate was recorded at 11.69 per cent.

The death toll has climbed to 4,97,975 with 1,733 fatalities reported during the 24-hour period, the data updated at 8 am showed. With the fresh cases, the total number of infections stands at 4.16 crore.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,95,11,307. The cumulative number of anti-Covid vaccine doses administered in the country so far has crossed 167.29 crore.

The active cases decreased by 1,21,456 to reach 16,21,603- 4.20 per cent of the total infections - while the country's recovery rate stands at 94.60 per cent, the ministry said.

The weekly positivity rate was 14.15 per cent, according to the health ministry. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,95,11,307 while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.20 per cent, the ministry said With the fresh cases, the total number of infections stands at 4,16,30,885, it said.

India surpassed the one-crore mark in the number of cases on December 19, 2020. India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23 last year.

India is battling Omicron variant of coronavirus, which is now detected in 57 countries. This strain is more infectious than the original version.

This fast spreading Omicron variant of COVID-19 has rapidly become dominant since it was first detected in Southern Africa 10 weeks back. WHOsaid that the variant which accounts for over 93 per cent of all the COVID-19 specimens collected in the past month counts several sub-lineage ie BA.1, BA.1.1, BA.2 and BA.3.

The BA.1 and BA.1.1 still account for 96 per cent all the Omicron sequences. However there has been a rise in cases involving BA.2, WHO said. "BA.2- designated sequences have been submitted to GISAID from 57 countries to date," the health body also said.