'961 Omicron cases': COVID-19 cases have risen since December 26, says India's health ministry
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India's health ministry informed that the western state of Maharashtra has witnessed a surge of 3.5 per cent COVID-19 cases in just a month.
Amid rise in coronavirus cases in the country, India's health ministry said since December 26 there has been a rise in COVID-19 cases in the country.
"Overall, 22 states have shown more positivity cases spread," health ministry spokesman Luv Aggarwal said, adding, "Kerala and Maharashtra have over 10,000 active cases."
The ministry informed that there were 13,154 COVID-19 cases in the country in the last 24 hours. On Thursday, India had reported 9,100 coronavirus cases.
"Clearly we are seeing an increase in cases, Delhi has multiplied on a daily basis including Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana Jharkhand, West Bengal are all showing a surging trend," the health ministry said.
"COVID-19 cases are enlarging not shrinking. Deaths are stable which is reassuring as of now," the ministry added.
"We believe what we are witnessing could be a part of the global rise in cases related to Omicron," the health ministry spokesman noted.
The health ministry said it is in touch with various states and is working towards curbing the virus cases. The ministry informed that India's western state of Maharashtra has witnessed a surge of 3.5 per cent COVID-19 cases in just a month.
In West Bengal the virus positivity case has increased from 1.61 per cent to 3.1 per cent, the ministry said. Kerala has also witnessed an increase in positivity cases from 0.58 per cent to 0.78 per cent.
In India's capital the positivity cases have risen from 0.11 per cent to 1 per cent this month with Karnataka registering an increase from 0.3 per cent to 0.5 per cent. Gujarat has also witnessed an increase from 0.19 per cent to 0.54 per cent.
The ministry said there were some areas of concern while noting that India reported more than 8,000 COVID-19 cases per day last week. The number of positivity cases stands at 0.92 per cent in the country, the ministry said.
"From Dec 26 onwards, the country has been reporting 10,000 daily cases," it said.
"The weekly positivity rate of more than 10 per cent is being noted in eight districts including six districts in Mizoram, one in Arunachal Pradesh and in Kolkata. The weekly case positivity rate is between 5-10 per cent in 14 districts," the ministry informed.
There are 961 Omicron cases in India so far. The ministry urged states to impose restrictions and declare areas as containment zones and take steps to increase hospital beds for COVID-19 patients.
The spokesman said that the government is working towards 100 per cent vaccination.
"Legal provisions can be used in states to control any failure over following COVID-19 protocols," the ministry said while informing that 63 per cent people have been fully vaccinated.
(With inputs from Agencies)