The daily count of fresh Covid-19 infections in India fell by 12 per cent to 2.51 lakh on Friday. The daily positivity rate declined to 15.88% from 19.59% to 15.88% while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 17.47%, according to data compiled by the Health Ministry.
The positivity rate which shows the number of people that turn out to be positive for every 100 that are tested, indicates the speed at which coronavirus infections are spreading.
As many as 627 people have died due to coronavirus during the past 24-hour period.
The highly contagious Omicron strain of coronavirus is now the dominant variant in India. The government on Thursday said that there are early indications of a plateau in the number of cases, with just the top 10 states contributing to 77 per cent of total active cases in the country.
Maharashtra on Thursday recorded 25,425 new cases, a drop of more than 10,000 compared to the previous day, and 42 deaths, according to state health officials.
Mumbai's positivity rate has fallen to 3.2% as the city reported 1,384 new cases on Thursday.
Delhi saw a significant 42 per cent drop in fresh cases on Thursday. The national capital registered 4,291 cases on Friday, down from 7,498 on Thursday. The number of deaths due to the viral infection was slightly higher at 34, up from 29 yesterday. The positivity rate dipped to 9.56 per cent, down from 10.59 per cent.
Among the southern states, Kerala logged 51,739 fresh COVID-19 cases on Thursday Omicron found in 94 per cent of positive samples in Kerala, state Health Minister Veena George said.
The situation was better in neighbouring Tamil Nadu where restrictions such as night curfew and Sunday lockdown have been lifted as coronavirus cases declined in the state. The state government also allowed reopening of schools and colleges from February 1.
Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 164.35 crore doses with 95% of the country’s adult population having been administered the first dose of the vaccine while 74% are fully inoculated.
