India logs 2,86 lac new cases in last 24 hours

New Delhi: India saw a marginal rise in fresh cases, reporting over 2.86 lakh (2,86,364) in the last 24 hours, ending on Thursday.

With around 3.06 lakh (3,06,357) recoveries, the number of active cases has declined to 22 lakh (22,02,472).

The daily positivity rate has increased slightly to 19.59 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate is now 17.75 per cent.

Meanwhile, an ICMR study has demonstrated that individuals infected with Omicron have a significant immune response which could neutralise not only the Omicron, but also other variants of concern, including the most prevalent Delta variant.

It suggests that the immune response induced by the Omicron could effectively neutralise the Delta variant, making the re-infection with Delta variant less likely, thereby displacing the Delta as dominant strain, the study said emphasising the need for Omicron-specific vaccine strategy.

With the administration of over 59 lakhs vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India's Covid inoculation coverage has reached 163.58 crore as of this morning.

More than 13.60 crore balance and unutilised Covid vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs, according to the Union Health ministry.