India Covid update: Over 2.64 lakh cases in 24 hours, positivity rate nears 15%

India saw another spike in Covid-19 cases on Friday registering a 6.7% jump in new infections from a day before. Government data released on Friday morning showed that the country recorded over 2.64 lakh new cases of infection.

In a worrying development, the daily positivity rate - or the number of people infected per 100 tests - has now jumped to 14.7 percent, the govt data showed.

The number of active cases has shot past 12.7 lakh.

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The number of patients infected with the highly transmissible Omicron variant of Covid-19 now stands at 5,753. Maharashtra has the most Omicron cases followed by Rajasthan and Delhi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday evening held a virtual meet with the chief minister to review the Covid third wave situation in the country as the number of cases spiral. The PM insisted that vaccination is the best bet against coronavirus, adding that about 70 per cent of the adult population in the country has got both doses.