India reports 10,549 fresh Covid-19 infections, amid South Africa variant scare

New Delhi, Nov 26: India reported 10,549 fresh covid cases, taking the total tally to 3,45,55,431, according to data from the union ministry of health.

With 488 deaths, the total covid fatalities in the country is now at 4,67,468. In India, the first death due to the COVID pandemic was reported in March 2020.

Total recoveries were at 3,39,77,830 across the country. A total of 9,868 patients recovered in the last 24 hours. India's active caseload stands at 1,10,133. In the last 24 hours, active cases increased by 193.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 49 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 152 consecutive days now.

The active cases comprise 0.32 per cent of the total infections while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.33 per cent, the health ministry said.

An increase of 193 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

With a new variant of COVID-19 found with multiple mutations which have led to a surge in infections, India has called for rigorous screening of fliers coming in from South Africa, Botswana and Hong Kong.

Twenty-two positive cases of the new variant - called B.1.1.529 - have been recorded in South Africa following genomic sequencing collaborations between the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, and private laboratories.