As Omicron spreads wings, India adds over 13,000 Covid-19 infections
New Delhi, Dec 30 (EFE).- India Thursday added more than 13,000 new Covid-19 infections, the highest in almost six weeks, amid a rapid spread of the Omicron variant of the virus that has begun reversing the decline of the number of daily cases.
The cases reported over the past day were 43 percent more than a day ago when over 9,000 people tested positive for the coronavirus.
The union health ministry said 13,154 people tested positive for the infection in the past 24 hours from Wednesday morning.
The last time India added more than 10,000-mark was on Nov.10, when the health authorities reported 14,800 infections across the country.
Thus, India’s Covid-19 tally rose to 3.48 million. The active infections are 82,402, to the health ministry data showed.
The number of deaths climbed to 480,860, with 268 new fatalities in the last 24 hours.
India has already added 961 Omicron variant cases that have accelerated the spread of the virus and sparked fears of a third wave of infections in a country with a weak health infrastructure.
Most of the Omicron infections are in the national capital with 263 cases, followed by Maharashtra with 252.
The Indian capital has seen an exponential rise in coronavirus cases and reported 923 new infections over the past day.
It quadruples the number of infections added just a week ago when the health authorities reported 195 cases.
The western state of Maharashtra, whose capital is Mumbai, reported 3,900 new coronavirus infections on Thursday morning.
The regional government imposed prohibitory orders to restrict the assembly of four or more people as a preventive measure to arrest the outbreak.
The government has also restricted New Year celebrations and parties in any closed or open space from Dec.30 to Jan.7.
The state, worst hit by the second wave of the pandemic in April-May, Wednesday crossed the 1,000-mark after several weeks of reporting a few hundred cases.
Despite the upward trend in the daily number of infections, active cases remain below one percent, and the positivity rate stands at 1.2 percent.
India suffered a virulent wave of infections in mid-April and May when the daily number of cases crossed 400,000 cases and deaths 4,500 for several days.
The deadly second wave left images of hospitals on the brink of collapse and saturated crematoria. EFE
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