India logs nearly 1.8 lakh new Covid cases in 24 hrs, Omicron tally tops 4,000

India recorded nearly 1 lakh and 80 thousand fresh Covid-19 cases in 24 hours pushing the active caseload to over 7 lakh, government data showed on Monday morning.

The Monday tally saw a jump of over 12% over Sunday's Covid cases. The daily positivity rate has also zoomed past 13% per cent. The country also saw 146 Covid related deaths in a day.

Also watch | Deltacron: New variant of Covid that combines Delta & Omicron. Here's what we know so far

The country tally of Omicron cases, the highly transmissible variant of coronavirus that is driving the latest resurgence in India and elsewhere, has now crossed 4,000. The union health ministry said at present, 27 states and Union territories have been affected by the fast-spreading variant.

India on Monday rolled out booster dose of Covid vaccine for health workers, frontline workers and senior citizens with comorbidities.

Meanwhile, an IIT-Kanpur professor and mathematician, Manindra Agrawal, has predicted that the peak of the ongoing third wave in the country could go as high as 8 lakh cases in a day — almost twice the peak of the second wave.