India logs over 2.82 lakh new cases, 441 deaths in last 24 hours

New Delhi, Jan 19: India logged 2,82,970 new cases of the novel coronavirus, along with 441 deaths due to the infection in the past 24 hours.

The active cases have increased to 18,31,000, the highest in 232 days. The death toll has climbed to 4,87,202 with 441 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

With 8,961 cases of the Omicron variant, there has been an 0.79 per cent increase in cases since Tuesday.

Experts said it is not possible to undertake genome sequencing of each and every sample but stressed that the current wave is largely being driven by the Omicron variant.

The active cases comprise 4.83 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has decreased to 93.88 per cent, the ministry said.

An increase of 44,952 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 15.13 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 15.53 per cent, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,55,83,039, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.29 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 158.88 crore.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.

It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.