Covid-19: India's daily case rise highest in two months

India's daily Covid numbers jumped by 12 per cent on Thursday as the country reported 47,092 new infections, the biggest single-day rise in two months, reports NDTV. 

About 509 deaths were recorded during the past 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry.

Kerala contributed 32,803 cases in the past 24 hours to take the total number of those affected in the state by the viral infection to 40,90,036. The test positivity rate was reported at 18.76 per cent and with 173 deaths, the number of fatalities increased to 20,961, a state government release said.

As many as 32 students - all of them returnees from Kerala - have tested positive for Covid-19 in a college in Karnataka, state Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said on Wednesday. There are 18,386 active cases in the state as of now.

Schools for classes 6 to 8 reopened in Gujarat on Thursday with 50 per cent capacity. Though schools in the state have been permitted to resume classes from their premises, the ongoing system of online lessons for these classes will also continue. Around 32 lakh students are currently studying in Classes 6 to 8 in the state.

Delhi reported 36 new cases in the last 24 hours, taking the active caseload in the national capital to 343. The active cases in the city now stand at 0.23 per cent, the lowest since the start of the pandemic according to official data.

Active cases constitute 1.19 per cent of total cases, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate stands 97.48 per cent, the Union Health Ministry said. The daily positivity rate now stands at 2.80 per cent.

The cumulative Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed the 66 crore mark. More than 69 lakh (69,42,335) vaccine doses were administered till 7:00pm on Wednesday. India has been running the largest vaccination drive against Covid-19 since January 16 this year.

The World Health Organization has said it is monitoring a new coronavirus variant known as "Mu", which was first identified in Colombia in January. Mu, known scientifically as B.1.621, has been classified as a "variant of interest", the global health body said Tuesday in its weekly pandemic bulletin.