7,189 new Covid cases in India

New Delhi, Dec 25 (IANS) India's total Covid-19 caseload increased to 3,47,79,815 on Saturday after 7,189 fresh cases, of which 415 them were of the Omicron variant, were reported in the past 24 hrs, data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) showed.

Meanwhile, 387 Covid-19 deaths and 7,286 recoveries increased the respective overall tallies to 4,79,520 and 3,42,23,263.

The daily active cases have declined to 484.

As far as the Omicron variant is concerned, Maharashtra has the highest number of cases with 108, followed by Delhi with 79, Gujarat 43, Telangana 38, Kerala 37 and Tamil Nadu 34.

On Friday, the Centre had announced that 358 cases of Omicron were reported in the 24 hrs, of which 183 were analysed. Of these, 91 were found to be fully vaccinated with three having received booster doses while 70 per cent were asymptomatic.

Since Friday, a total 66,09,113 people got vaccinated, pushing the cumulative figure of doses to 1,41,01,26,404.

To curb the rise in Covid-19 cases amid the emergence of new variant, the Centre has deployed multi-disciplinary teams to 10 states which are reporting an increase in the number of infections or slow vaccination pace.

As per the government notice, these teams will be deployed in Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Mizoram, Karnataka, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Punjab and for three to five days working with the state health authorities.