India on Tuesday morning registered 27,409 new coronavirus cases, pushing the overall infection count to 4,26,92,943 since the pandemic began in January 2020. The number of new cases was 24.45% lower than Monday’s count of 34,113 cases.

With 347 deaths, the toll climbed to 5,09,358. The active cases in the country declined to 4,23,127.

The daily positivity rate fell to 2.23% from Monday’s 3.19%, government data showed. So far, 4,17,60,458 patients have recovered from the infection.

Source: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

India has administered 1,73,42,62,440 vaccine doses to beneficiaries. Of this, 44,68,365 shots were administered in the past 24 hours.

On Monday, the Drugs Controller of India’s Subject Expert Committee has recommended emergency use authorisation to Biological E’s Covid vaccine Corbevax for children aged 12 to 18, ANI reported.

An emergency use authorisation is granted during public health emergencies, based on the results of clinical trials.

Currently, only Covaxin is being administered to children below the age of 18.

Meanwhile, the Omicron variant of the coronavirus was found in 95% of samples tested in Mumbai, the civic body said, PTI reported on Monday.

The Omicron strain, which was first found in South Africa in November, had driven the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic in India since December.

Mumbai had recorded a surge in cases in January. However, they have now reduced over the last three weeks. On Monday, the city reported only 192 new cases – its lowest single-day count since December 13.