India's new Covid cases jump to 2,582 in last 24 hours

New Delhi [India], January 3 (ANI): India reported 2,582 cases">fresh Covid cases and 222 recoveries in the last 24 hours, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Affairs on Tuesday. This is a substantial jump from the previous 24 hours (January 1) when only 173 cases were reported.
In the last 24 hours, the number of Covid tests conducted was 1,51,186 which is also a substantial increase from 92,955 tests conducted in the previous 24 hours (January 1).
In India, 45,769 vaccine doses have been administered in the last 24 hours and the recovery rate currently stands at 98.8 per cent. As of now, the daily positivity rate stands at 0.09 per cent and the weekly positivity rate stands at 0.13 per cent.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Affairs, total recoveries from Covid stand at 4,41,45,667 with a total 91.12 cr tests having been conducted so far.
COVID-19 vaccination for the age group 12-14 years was started on March 16, 2022. So far, more than 4.12 Cr (4,12,35,971) adolescents have been administered the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Similarly, the COVID-19 precaution dose administration for the age group 18-59 years also started from 10th April 2022 onwards, the official statement read.
It is pertinent to note that health concerns have risen in the country as World Health Organization Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan on Friday said that there were over 300 sub-variants and XBB being a recombinant virus is a matter of concern as it is immune evasive.
XBB, a recombinant lineage between two Omicron sublineages BJ.1 and BA.2.75, is a fast-spreading variant, which was seen to have caused a spike across Singapore recently.
Last week, a high-level meeting of Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya with the senior health officials regarding the emergence of Omicron's new sub-variants concluded with the decision to continue masks and COVID-appropriate behaviour across the country. (ANI)