Covid-19 update: Slight uptick in India’s daily cases; Delhi, Mumbai show decline

The active caseload, too, has increased to 18,31,000, up from Tuesday’s 17.3 lakh. The daily positivity rate climbed to 15.13 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Omicron tally has reached 8,961 — an increase of 0.79 per cent since yesterday, the Ministry said.

Covid-19 India Third Wave |Follow latest updates

Here’s a rundown of the latest updates on Covid-19:

With vaccine equity, Covid-19 health emergency could be over by year-end: WHO

The head of emergencies at the World Health Organization said Tuesday, the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic — deaths, hospitalisations and lockdowns — could be over this year if huge inequities in vaccinations and medicines are addressed quickly. “What we need to do is get to low levels of disease incidence with maximum vaccination of our populations, so nobody has to die,” Dr Michael Ryan said. “We may never end the virus because such pandemic viruses end up becoming part of the ecosystem. But we have a chance to end the public health emergency this year if we do the things that we’ve been talking about,” he said.

School kids from Little Angels High School in Sion West, Mumbai get vaccinated at the school premises on Tuesday morning. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)

Daily cases drop in major cities

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said on Tuesday that Mumbai had moved past the peak and the daily Covid-19 case count was expected to fall further over the coming days. Over the last week, the city’s daily case count has seen a steady fall. It dipped to 10,661 on Saturday; 7,895 on Sunday; and 5,956 on Monday. On Tuesday, 6,149 new cases were reported.

Similarly, Delhi, which had recorded a new all-time peak just six days ago with 28,867 cases, has seen a steady and fast decline after that. The capital reported 11,684 cases on Tuesday. In Kolkata, the case count rose to more than double its second wave peak — 8,712 cases on January 9. But it dropped quickly after that, and on Tuesday, the city reported only 2,205 cases. Chennai is also showing distinct signs of a slowdown, though the cases have not begun to decline.

A medical worker gives Covid-19 vaccination at a centre in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Express Photo by Tashi Tobgyal)

Pune, Bengaluru see a rise

Cities like Bengaluru and Pune are seeing a rapid rise in numbers. Bengaluru reported 25,595 cases on Tuesday, the highest so far in the third wave. Similarly, Pune also reported the highest number of cases(11,784 ) in this wave on Tuesday.

Enhance testing, govt tells states/UTs

The Union Health Ministry Tuesday told health departments in the country to increase testing, highlighting a decline in several states and Union Territories over the last few days.

Additional Health Secretary Arti Ahuja, without naming any state or Union Territory, reiterated to health secretaries the fresh ICMR guidelines issued after the emergence of the highly-transmissible Omicron variant. The new ICMR guidelines had stated that all those who are symptomatic and at-risk contacts of laboratory-confirmed cases must be tested — while there was no need to do so for asymptomatic people.