The number of COVID-19 cases continued to rise on Sunday, with 1,79,339 new infections, taking the total number of active patients in India to over seven lakh. The steep rise in the past week was primarily due to the case surge in urban centres such as Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Chennai.
Between January 4 and 8, Mumbai recorded more than 86,000 cases, a 150% increase in infections compared to the week before. Delhi recorded about 68,000 new cases, a 350% rise. Bengaluru registered close to 24,000 cases, a 400% increase. In the same period, Chennai saw 17,247 infections, a 350% increase compared to the past week.
Notably, the test positivity rate crossed the 10% mark in the country. That is, every 100 tests now yield 10 positive cases. The numbers are based on State bulletins released until 11.30 p.m. on Sunday. Ladakh, Lakshadweep and Tripura had not yet released data for the day.
Andhra Pradesh reported 1,257 COVID-19 infections and two deaths in the 24 hours ending Sunday morning. The single-day tally crossed 1,000 for the first time in 101 days since October 1, 2021. At 3.27%, the positivity rate was also the highest in the past 180 days. The number of active cases tripled in just five days from 1,848 on January 5 to 4,774 on Sunday.
The number of active cases in Bihar until January 8 was 12,311, with over 7,000 in Patna district. More than 350 doctors and medical staff in the state have tested positive, most of whom were from Nalanda Medical College and Hospital. In addition, some staff of a private airline working at the Patna airport was also tested positive.
In Gujarat, the case count increased by 6,275, while 1,263 patients recovered. As a result, active cases neared the 28,000-mark, of which 26 patients were on ventilator support.
Kerala on Sunday reported 6,238 new cases with 54,108 samples were tested in the past 24 hours. The number of patients in the State’s active case pool has risen to 34,902, of whom, 2,538 persons are being treated for moderate or severe COVID in hospitals across the State. Between January 2-8, new cases went up by 82% in comparison to the previous week.
New hospitalisations in Kerala on Sunday was 261, while 2,390 persons were reported to have recovered from the disease on the day. Current ICU occupancy of COVID patients in both public and private hospitals in the State showed a nominal increase and stands at 435 cases, while the number of patients requiring ventilator support showed a slight increase to 157 on Sunday.
