India Covid update: Nearly 2 lakh cases, 442 deaths in 24 hours, Omicron tally nears 5,000

India saw a sharp spike in Covid-19 cases on Wednesday after a mild drop on Tuesday. Government data released on Wednesday morning showed that the country recorded close to 2 lakh new cases of infection. This is a 15% hike on Tuesday's reported infections.

Daily deaths too, witnessed a rise, with 442 fatalities due to the virus taking total deaths to 4,84,655.

Also watch | Covid third wave: Weekly positivity rate over 10% in 120 districts, says govt

In a worrying development, the number of active cases is once again near the 1 million mark and currently stands at 955,319.

The daily positivity rate - or the number of people infected per 100 tests - has now crossed 11 percent, the govt data showed. At least 120 districts in 29 states and Union Territories have reported a weekly positivity rate of over 10 percent in the third wave of the pandemic.

The number of patients infected with the highly transmissible Omicron variant of Covid-19 is now nearing 5,000 in the country. Currently, 4,868 cases of the new variant have been identified. Maharashtra has the most Omicron cases with 1,281, followed by Rajasthan with 645 cases.