India logs 6,358 new cases of COVID-19 infection, 293 deaths in last 24 hours

New Delhi, December 28, 2021

India today logged 6,358 new cases of COVID-19 infection and 293 more deaths due to the coronavirus pandemic, slightly lower than yesterday's numbers.

The 293 deaths posted today included 213 previously undeclared fatalities in Kerala, where the data of the past many months is being reconciled and updated as per the broadened definition of COVID-19 deaths under new guidelines.

Yesterday, the country had recorded 6,531 fresh cases of COVID-19 infection and 315 deaths, including 252 previously undeclared fatalities in Kerala.

Not counting the 213 previously unreported deaths in Kerala, India today posted 80 deaths due to the coronavirus pandemic in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) said a total of 653 cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 had been reported in India so far (up from 578 yesterday), of whom 186 had recovered.

Of the 653, Maharashtra accounted for 167, Delhi 165, Kerala 57, Telangana 55, Gujarat 49, Rajasthan 46, Tamil Nadu 34 and Karnataka 31.

With the latest data released by the MoHFW this morning, the death toll in the country from COVID-19 so far has climbed to 480,290 today.

The total number of cases of infection till now, since the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in India in late January 2020, rose to 34,799,691 today.

Of the 80 COVID-19 deaths posted in India in the last 24 hours, Kerala accounted for 23, Maharashtra 21 and West Bengal 10.

All other states reported less than ten deaths each, with as many as 20 States and Union Territories posting zero deaths during this period. National capital Delhi recorded one death in the last 24 hours.

The number of those who have recovered from COVID-19 in the country rose to 34,243,945 today, up 6,450 from yesterday. The recovery rate stood at 98.40%, the highest since March 2020.

The number of active cases of COVID-19 in the country fell by 385 to 75,456 today.

The Ministry said that the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 142.46 crore, including 72.87 lakh doses administered during the last 24 hours.

The Weekly Positivity Rate stood at 0.64% today, below 1% for the last 44 days, while the Daily Positivity Rate was 0.61% today, below 2% for 84 consecutive days and below 1% for the 29th consecutive day.

NNN