India registers 258,089 new cases of COVID-19 infection, 385 deaths in last 24 hours

New Delhi, January 17, 2022

India today registered 258,089 new cases of COVID-19 infection and 385 more deaths in the last 24 hours amidst some signs that the spread of the coronavirus pandemic could be slowing down in most parts of the country.

The country had yesterday logged 271,202 fresh cases of COVID-19 infection and 314 deaths, including 89 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.

Today's number of 385 deaths includes 150 previously unreported fatalities in Kerala. If these 150 are not taken into account, the number of COVID-19 deaths in the country in the last 24 hours stands at 235, as compared to 225 yesterday.

The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) said a total of 8,209 cases of Omicron, the new and more transmissible variant of the virus, had been confirmed in India so far, up from 7,743 yesterday.

With the latest data released by the MoHFW this morning, the death toll in the country from COVID-19 so far has climbed to 486,451 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, went up to 37,380,253 today.

Not counting the 150 previously unreported fatalities in Kerala, the 235 deaths posted in India in the last 24 hours included 36 deaths in West Bengal, 29 in Maharashtra, 28 in Delhi, 22 in Tamil Nadu, 15 in Punjab, 13 in Karnataka and 10 in Uttar Pradesh.

All other states reported less than ten deaths each, with ten States and Union Territories posting zero deaths during this period.

The number of those who have recovered from COVID-19 in the country increased to 35,237,461 today, up 151,740 from yesterday. The recovery rate slipped further to 94.27% from 94.51% yesterday.

The number of active cases of COVID-19 in the country rose for the 19th day today, going up by 105,964 to 1,656,341 today.

Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 157.20 crore today, including 39.46 lakh doses administered in the last 24 hours.

The Daily Positivity Rate increased to 19.65% and the Weekly Positivity Rate to 14.41%.

NNN