India registered 2,68,833 new Covid infections in a day, taking the cumulative tally to 3,68,50,962, which includes 6,041 Omicron cases, the Union Health Ministry said on Saturday, Trend reports citing The Indian Express.
With 402 more deaths, the toll climbed up to 4,85,752, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.32 per cent.
A total of 6,041 Omicron cases has been detected so far, an increase of 5.01 per cent since Friday, the data updated at 8 am showed. The daily positivity rate was 16.66 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate was 12.84 per cent.
Active cases in the country have gone up to 14,17,820, the highest in about 223 days, and comprise 3.85 per cent of the total infections. The national recovery rate stands at 94.83 per cent, the Health Ministry added.
Here are the top developments on Covid-19 from across the country:
Two players test positive, withdrawn from India Open
The Covid-19 pandemic continued to take a toll on the Yonex-Sunrise India Open badminton tournament with two players being withdrawn from the main draw ahead of their mixed doubles semifinal clash in New Delhi on Saturday.
Second seeded Russian mixed doubles player Rodion Alimov tested positive for the virus and was withdrawn from the $400,000 tournament. His mixed doubles partner Alina Davletova was also withdrawn after being identified as a close contact. Indonesian pair of Yong Kai Terry Hee and Wei Han Tan thus made it to the mixed doubles final after getting a walkover.
On Wednesday, as many as seven Indian shuttlers, including reigning world championship silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth, were withdrawn from the event after testing positive for the virus. Besides Srikanth, the other players withdrawn were Ashwini Ponnappa, Ritika Rahul Thkar, Treesa Jolly, Mithun Manjunath, Simran Aman Singh and Khushi Gupta.
Covid surge: Kerala govt to suspend offline classes for 2 weeks
Kerala Education Minister V Sivankutty on Saturday said there was no considerable spread of Covid -19 among students in the state and the government’s decision to put on hold the offline classes for students of grade 1 to 9 for two weeks was a precautionary step as the viral infection saw a surge in recent days.
The classes would be suspended for two weeks as a precaution and it was applicable to all educational institutions in the southern state, he told a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram.
Test positivity rate shoots up to 51.75 per cent in Puducherry
Puducherry reported 1,213 fresh Covid-19 cases during the last 24 hours ending 10 am on Saturday pushing the cumulative positives to 1,36,550. The test positivity rate shot up to 51.75 percent while fatality and recovery rates were 1.38 percent and 93.65 percent respectively.
The new cases were identified at the end of examination of 2344 samples and the cases were spread over Puducherry 1100, Karaikal 93, Mahe 17 and Yanam three.
MP bans visitors from meeting jail inmates till March-end
In view of the rising cases of Covid-19 in Madhya Pradesh, the state government has banned visitors from meeting prison inmates till the end of March this year in an attempt to prevent the spread of infection. An order to this effect was issued by the state jail department on Friday.
“In a bid to prevent the spread of the pandemic inside the prisons, the visits of friends, family members and acquaintances of jail inmates will remain banned till March 31. The jail inmates will continue to avail the facility of e-meeting (through video calls) and incoming phone calls,” the order read. From November 1 last year, visitors were allowed to meet the inmates of jails in the state after a decline in coronavirus cases.