India's COVID Cases Cross 1 Lakh After 7 Months; Nearly 1 In 3 Tests Positive In Mumbai
India reported 1,17,100 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, a week after the country crossed the 10,000 mark, as the virus continued to spread at an unprecedented pace, largely driven by the Omicron variant now present in 27 states.
This is the first time in seven months that daily cases crossed the one-lakh mark in the country. On June 6, 2021, India had reported 1,14,460 new cases. The 28 per cent jump in new cases today has pushed the country's total caseload to 3.52 crore.
Record cases
Maharashtra
Maharashtra, one of the worst-hit by Covid-19 has reported 36,265 new cases. Of these, 20,181 were reported in Mumbai alone and one every 3 persons have tested positive as per reports. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will take a decision on lockdown in Mumbai, state health minister Rajesh Tope said. The number of cases reported in Mumbai are a fresh all-time single-day high and up 5,015 infections, or 33.06 per cent, from a day ago, while four more patients succumbed to the disease, said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). In Mumbai, the hospitalisation rate has not increased significantly and 80 per cent of hospital beds in the city were still unoccupied, Health Minister said.
Delhi
The cases in Maharashtra are?followed by Delhi with 15,097 new cases in the last 24 hours - the highest since May 8, 2021. The national capital's daily cases jumped a whopping 41.5 per cent in a day. This comes a day after the city witnessed its biggest single-day spike - 10,665 cases - in nearly eight months. The positivity rate has surpassed 15 per cent.
Apart from Delhi and Mumbai, the Union Health Ministry has identified Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru as some of the main regions of concern, although state officials worry the disease will soon spread to the countryside where health facilities are weaker.
WHO warns about Omicron
The Omicron variant is killing people across the globe and should not be dismissed as mild, the World Health Organization has said.WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the record numbers of people catching the new variant meant hospitals were being overwhelmed.
Responding to questions about the Omicron variant, WHO's Covid-19 Technical Lead Maria Van Kerkhove told reporters on Thursday, "Yes, oversimplified narratives can be dangerous. While we see a lower risk of hospitalisation compared to Delta, to suggest that Omicron is just a mild disease is dangerous."
Fresh curbs announced
Bihar
The Bihar government on Thursday announced that all schools, colleges, coaching centres, and hostels will remain closed till January 21. "All schools, colleges, coaching centres, and hostels will remain closed till January 21," the Bihar government said.The government and private offices will function with a 50 per cent staff presence.
Delhi
Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain said the situation does not warrant a lockdown yet. The Delhi government, however, has extended the deadline for submission of nursery admission applications for private schools by two weeks.
Uttar Pradesh
Section 144 has been imposed in Lucknow. A new set of guidelines has also been issued which includes the enforcement of a night curfew in the city from 10 pm to 6 am. Poll-bound Uttar Pradesh on Thursday recorded 3,121 new confirmed cases of Covid-19. The state now has 8,224 active cases of infection.
Haryana
The Haryana government has imposed fresh curbs in six more districts - Karnal, Panipat, Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar, Rohtak, and Jhajjar. These now come under high-risk districts. Previously, curbs were imposed on Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ambala, Panchkula and Sonipat.According to fresh guidelines issued by Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal, all malls and shops in the six districts will remain open only till 6 pm. Cinema halls have been ordered to shutdown amid rise in cases.?
Other states, UTs
In a bid to curb further spread of Covid-19, the Puducherry government on Thursday introduced new restrictions that will be in effect till January 31. Meanwhile, the West Bengal government has decided to make RT-PCR test reports mandatory for inter-state movement. Similarly, all passengers deboarding at Bhubaneswar airport in Odisha, with the exception of those in transit, will have to undergo a mandatory RT-PCR test.
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