In another significant single-day spike amid the ongoing resurgence, India logged 37,479 new Covid-19 cases in a span of 24 hours, taking the overall active infection tally to 1,71,830, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare announced on Tuesday.

The active caseload now accounts for 0.49 per cent of the country's total positive cases, according to the Ministry.

Also in the same period, the country registered 124 new Covid fatalities, which increased the nationwide death toll to 4,82,017.

Covid tests
Bengaluru:Health workers collect swab samples for COVID 19 tests at Majestic Busstand, after Omicron Coronavirus variants were found, in Bengaluru on Monday 27th December 2021.IANS

Meanwhile, the Omicron infection tally has climbed at 1,892, of which 766 have been discharged from hospitals. So far, at least 23 states have reported Omicron cases, said the Ministry.

Maharashtra and Delhi continue to be the worst-hit states with this new variant.

Among total 23 states and union territories that have reported the Omicron infection so far, Maharashtra tops the list with 568 cases of this variant. Of them, 259 patients have been discharged as per the health ministry data on Tuesday.

Omicron tally

The national capital, Delhi has the second highest cases of Omicron infection at 382. However, 57 of them have been discharged from the hospital. Delhi is followed by Kerala with 185 Omicron cases. The Union health ministry on Tuesday morning said that the Omicron infection has so far spread into 23 states and UTs.

Among other states, Rajasthan has detected 174 Omicron infection with 88 discharged so far. Gujarat and Tamil Nadu have so far reported 152 and 121 cases of Omicron respectively.

Telangana continues with 67 Omicron patients. In Karnataka, 64 people so far have been detected with Omicron infection while the number of infection remains 63 in Haryana and 37 and 20 cases respectively in Odisha and West Bengal. Andhra Pradesh also continues with 17 Omicron patients so far.

However, the Omicron case count continues in single digit for Madhya Pradesh at nine and Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand at eight cases each. Goa has reported four more cases of Omicron taking the tally to five. Chandigarh and Jammu & Kashmir also continue with three cases each. Andaman and Nicobar Islands also continue with two cases so far. Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh, Manipur and Punjab continue with one case of this variant each so far.

Covid Daily Status

The recovery of 11,007 patients in the last 24 hours has increased the cumulative tally to 3,43,06,414. Consequently, India's recovery rate stands at 98.13 per cent.

A total of 11,54,302 tests were conducted across the country in the past 24 hours, taking the overall number to over 68.24 crore.

Covid third wave hitting India? Cases in Mumbai and Delhi skyrocketing

Meanwhile, the weekly positivity rate has climbed to 2.05 per cent amid the sudden spike of cases, while the daily positivity rate stood at 3.24 per cent.

With the administration of 99,27,797 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India's Covid inoculation coverage reached 146.70 crore as of Tuesday morning.

More than 19.69 crore balance and unutilized Covid vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs to be administered, according to the Ministry.