Covid LIVE: Maharashtra sees 46,723 new cases in a day; 27,561 in Delhi

Mumbai's positivity rate rises to 24.38%; Delhi's positivity rate at 26.22%

Live news updates: The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a notice to the central and Uttarakhand governments on a petition seeking an investigation and action against those who allegedly made hate speeches during two events held recently in Haridwar and New Delhi. The court has sought response within 10 days.

India reported 194,720 new cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday, the most since late May, health ministry data showed. Total cases of Omicron, a fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus, increased to 4,868.

The country has more than 36 million Covid-19 cases and fatalities increased by 442 overnight to reach a total of 484,655.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to hold a meeting with chief ministers on Covid-19 on Thursday as the number of infections surge. At meeting with civil servants on Sunday, Modi had called for strengthening health infrastructure in districts and accelerating vaccinations for teenagers.

The World Bank on Tuesday retained its FY22 growth forecast for India at 8.3 per cent but upgraded it to 8.7 per cent for FY23, from 7.5 per cent estimated earlier, citing improving growth prospects, especially a reviving private capex cycle.

10:18 PM

India's vaccination coverage crosses 154.5 cr

India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage crossed 154.50 crore on Wednesday with more than 66 lakh vaccine doses being administered till 7 pm, the Union Health Ministry said.

 

More than 26,19,670 precaution doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to healthcare workers, frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities since January 10.

 

Also, 2,96,94,734 first doses have been given to beneficiaries in the 15-18 years age group so far.

 

As many as 66,77,685 doses were administered by 7 pm on Wednesday. The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports by late night.

9:25 PM

No new Omicron case in Gujarat for 2nd day; tally unchanged at 264

Gujarat did not report any new case of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 for the second day in a row on Wednesday, keeping its tally unchanged at 264, the state health department said.

 

At the same time, 13 more patients infected with the highly contagious strain were discharged, it said. With this, a total of 238 Omicron patients have been discharged so far, leaving only 26 such cases under treatment, said the department said in a release. Out of 13 new recoveries, nine were from Vadodara and four from Anand districts, said the release. Ahmedabad city has so far reported the highest number of 110 Omicron cases, out of which 102 have recovered. Vadodara has reported 44 cases and 41 recoveries, Anand 27 cases and as many recoveries, and Surat 20 cases and as many recoveries, it said. The active Omicron cases are currently in nine districts of Gujarat - Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Gandhinagar, Bhavnagar, Bharuch, Banaskantha, Rajkot, Amreli and Jamnagar, as per the release.

9:13 PM

Jammu and Kashmir sees highest single-day spike of 1,695 new Covid cases

Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday reported the highest single-day spike of 1,695 new Covid cases and one death during the last 24 hours. An official bulletin said that there were 812 new cases and one death in the Jammu division and 883 cases in the Kashmir division.

 

Meanwhile, another 262 patients recovered - 140 from the Jammu division and 122 from the Kashmir division.

 

So far, 348,201 people have been infected with coronavirus out of which 337,412 have recovered, while 4,547 have succumbed.

 

The number of active cases is 6,242 out of which 3,348 are from the Jammu division and 2,894 are from the Kashmir division.

 

During the last 24 hours 71,541 doses of vaccine were administered and 65,348 tests conducted in J&K.

9:07 PM

Maharashtra sees 46,723 new cases

8:23 PM

Bengal registers 22,155 fresh Covid cases

7:40 PM

27,561 new Covid cases in Delhi

7:25 PM

Mumbai sees 16,420 new cases in a day

7:01 PM

Karnataka sees over 21,000 new cases

5:45 PM

Covaxin booster neutralises both Omicron and Delta, says Bharat Biotech

5:25 PM

Omicron is not common cold: Paul

4:46 PM

PM Narendra Modi inaugurates 11 new government medical colleges in Tamil Nadu

4:45 PM

'All symptomatic cases including all risk contacts need to be tested'

4:34 PM

'Have revised our discharge policy,' says govt

4:06 PM

Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister quits

2:41 PM

'Nagaland killings being thoroughly investigated,' says Army chief