India records 1.68 lakh new Covid cases, 277 more deaths

New Delhi: India logged 1,68,063 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of Covid cases to 3,58,75,790 which includes 4,461 cases of the omicron variant, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

The active cases rose to 8,21,446, the highest in 208 days, while the death toll climbed to 4,84,213 with 277 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

Of the total 4,461 cases of the omicron variant, 1,711 people have recovered or migrated so far.

Maharashtra recorded the maximum number of 1,247 cases followed by Rajasthan at 645, Delhi 546, Karnataka 479 and Kerala 350.

The active cases comprise 2.29 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid recovery rate decreased to 96.36 per cent, the ministry said.

An increase of 97,827 cases has been recorded in the active Covid caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 10.64 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 8.85 per cent, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,45,70,131, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.35 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide Covid vaccination drive has exceeded 152.89 crore.

The 227 new fatalities include 166 from Kerala and 17 from Delhi.

A total of 4,84,213 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,41,647 from Maharashtra, 49,757 from Kerala, 38,374 from Karnataka, 36,866 from Tamil Nadu, 25,177 from Delhi, 22,932 from Uttar Pradesh and 19,917 from West Bengal. (PTI)