India logs over 300,000 COVID cases in a day, highest daily count in 8 months

India has logged 317,532 new cases of the coronavirus in the last 24 hours, taking its tally to 38.21 million.

Deaths from COVID-19 rose by 491 to 487,693, the federal health ministry said on Thursday.

At the global level, India is the second worst-hit country after the United States, Indian media report.

The official count of omicron cases reached 9,287, with 29 states reporting the new strain.

Maharashtra has reported 1,738 cases, the most in the country, followed by West Bengal, where 1,672 people have been infected with omicron.

The daily positivity rate stood at 16.41 percent while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 16.06 percent. The recovery rate has decreased to 93.69 percent.

Maharashtra, one of the states worst hit by the COVID pandemic, reported 43,697 new COVID-19 cases, 10 percent more than the previous day, and recorded 49 deaths linked to the virus. The state reported 214 omicron infections, taking the tally of those infected with this strain to 1,860.

Delhi reported 13,785 new COVID cases and 35 deaths in the last 24 hours. According to the health bulletin of the Delhi government, the active number of COVID patients in the city reached 75,282. Out of these, 58,501 patients are in home isolation and 2,624 are admitted to hospitals.

Authorities said omicron was causing fewer hospitalisations and deaths than the delta variant, which killed hundreds of thousands last year.