New Delhi (TIP)- Global Covid case surge due to the Omicron variant led to a peak six times the previous waves but India managed to control its spread causing lower hospitalisation and fewer deaths than earlier surges, the government said on Thursday, March 17.

With 3,536 cases reported on an average in the week ending March 15, India contributed to only 0.21 per cent of global cases, the Union health ministry said. It pointed out that many countries are still experiencing a rise in cases which is higher than their previous surges.

“Not only the reported peak in India was much lower, but the consistent efforts also led to a decreasing trajectory soon. “The country managed the Omicron surge much better than others,” a health ministry official said during a presentation at a webinar on India’s Public Health Response to Manage Covid. Expedited vaccination drive compounded by effective containment measures and early identification of cases contributed to lower hospitalisation and fewer deaths during the third surge in India, officials said. They said that by December 31, 2021, when the first signs of the third wave emerged, India had already vaccinated 90.8 per cent of the eligible population with the first dose and 65.4 per cent with the second dose, which proved pivotal in saving lives. India has administered more than 180 crore vaccine doses which is 3.2 times that of the US and 12.7 times of France, officials said.

India reports 2,539 new Covid cases

With 2,539 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, India’s total tally of Covid cases rose to 4,30,01,477, while the active cases have declined to 30,799, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Thursday, March 17. The death toll has climbed to 5,16,132 with 60 daily fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed. The active cases constitute 0.07 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid recovery rate has further improved to 98.73 per cent, the health ministry said. A reduction of 2,012 cases has been recorded in the active Covid caseload in a span of 24 hours. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.35 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was 0.42 per cent, according to the health ministry.

Source: PTI