Two hundred Omicron cases reported in India so far, 5,326 new COVID-19 cases

New Delhi, Dec 21 (PTI) Two hundred cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus have been detected in India so far out of which 77 patients have recovered or migrated, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday.  Maharashtra and Delhi have recorded 54 cases of Omicron variant each, while Telangana registered 20 cases, Karnataka 19, Rajasthan 18, Kerala 15 and Gujarat 14 cases.

The ministry data updated on Tuesday also stated that India recorded 5,326 new cases of coronavirus infections, the lowest in 581 days, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,47,52,164, while the active cases declined to 79,097, the lowest in 574 days .

The death toll climbed to 4,78,007 with 453 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.  The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been recorded below 15,000 for the last 54 days now.

The active cases have declined to 79,097 comprising 0.23  per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has further improved to 98.40 per cent, the highest since March 2020,the ministry said.

 A decline of 3,170 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of  24 hours.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.  India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23. PT I PLB DV DV