India reported 2,47,417 coronavirus cases on Thursday morning, taking the overall tally to 3,63,17,927 since the pandemic began in the country in January 2020. The number of new cases was 27.06% more than Wednesday’s count of 1,94,720 cases.

Since last week, the infections have grown by 172%. On January 6, India had reported 90,926 cases.

The active cases increased by 1,62,212, taking the overall tally to 11,17,531. The daily positivity rate stood at 13.11%.

Over the last 24 hours, 380 persons died due to the infection taking the toll to 4,85,035.

As many as 84,825 people recovered from the disease on Thursday, taking the total to 3,47,15,361. The recovery rate stood at 95.58%.

Source: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

Cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus rose to 5,488 from Wednesday’s tally of 4,868 infections. The new strain is now present in all 28 states.

The most number of Omicron cases have been reported from Maharashtra (1,367) followed by Rajasthan (792) and Delhi (549). A total of 2,162 people have recovered or have been discharged from hospitals after having tested negative for the variant.

Delhi has been recording an exponential rise in cases during the third wave of the coronavirus.

On Wednesday, the Capital reported 27,561 Covid-19 cases, the second-highest single-day count since the pandemic broke out. On April 20, during the second wave of the pandemic, Delhi had recorded 28,395 infections.

The city reported 40 deaths on Wednesday, the highest in a day since June 10. The positivity rate also rose to 26.22% from Tuesday’s rate of 25.65%. Delhi currently has 87,445 active cases, of which 2,363 patients are in hospitals and health care centres. As many as 613 patients are in intensive care unit wards, while 91 are on ventilator support, government data showed.

In Mumbai, 16,420 people tested positive for the coronavirus disease, taking the infection count in the city to 9,56,287. The toll climbed by seven to 16,420.

There are currently 1,02,282 active cases in Mumbai and 6,946 of 36,811 beds are occupied.

Maharashtra Health minister Rajesh Tope on Wednesday said that the coronavirus curve in the state was not flattening despite a decrease in Covid-19 cases over the week, PTI reported. The minister added that he does not expect the circumstances to stabilise by January end or by early February.

Tope urged the residents of the state to take the vaccine if their doses were pending.

However, Maharashtra is facing a shortage of Covaxin shots, The Hindu reported.

“Maharashtra has around 60 lakh students in the age group of 15-18 and 35% of them have been given [their] first dose,” Tope said. “As per the directions from the Central government, this age group should be given Covaxin only. We are getting reports from several districts about its shortage.”

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will demand more than 40 lakh doses from Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a meeting on Thursday.

The health department has said that the state could witness an increase in hospitalisation of Covid-19 patients this month-end or in the first week of February, PTI reported.

“If the oxygen demand rises to 700 metric tonnes, then stricter curbs will be required,” Thackeray said. “Considering this fact, the district administrations should expedite vaccination and take necessary steps.”