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On New Year Day, India had reported 27,718 fresh cases by late night with data from two states awaited. This was over 5,000 more than the tally of 22,706 on Friday.
Covid infections have exploded this week, coinciding with the rise in the Omicron variant of the virus, with cases increasing nearly 4.5-fold in just five days. While the 22% spurt in cases on Saturday was lower than the percentage growth recorded in the previous four days, this could be due to a fall in testing on New Year eve as the all-India test positivity rate increased to 4.4%, from 2.05% on the previous day.
Maharashtra continued to post the highest number of new cases at 9,170, a rise of nearly 14% over Friday’s total of 8,067. Of these, Mumbai alone accounted for 6,180 cases, continuing to report the highest number of infections among metros.
Bengal reported 4,512 new cases, up from 3,451 on Friday, logging a 31% rise in a day. Kolkata posted 2,398 of these cases as big cities remained the main centres of the current Covid spike. The state’s positivity rate rose to 12.02% from 8.46% on Friday as daily testing dipped.
With 2,716 fresh cases, up 51% since Friday, Delhi reported the third highest case count among states, pushing Kerala (2,435 cases) to the fourth spot.
Meanwhile, Bihar reported the highest daily percentage rise, reporting 281 new cases, up 78% from Friday’s count of 158. CM Nitish Kumar had earlier in the week said a third corona wave had begun in the state. Gujarat logged 1,069 cases, up 64% from 654 on the previous day.
Other states recording a single-day surge of over 50% include Madhya Pradesh (124 cases, up 61%) and Uttar Pradesh (383 cases, up 53%).
The country reported 67 deaths from the virus on Friday. However, the overall Covid toll rose by 291 with the addition of old deaths, mainly from Kerala.
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