Desk, 08- Dec : India reported 8,439 Covid-19 positive cases on Tuesday, taking its toll to 3,46,56,822. The count of active cases declined to 93,733, the lowest in 555 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data. The death toll due to the disease rose to 4,73,952, with 195 daily deaths being recorded. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been recorded below 10,000 for 12 straight days and less than 50,000 for 164 consecutive days now.Meanwhile, the Omicron variant of the coronavirus can partially evade the protection from two doses of Pfizer Inc and partner BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine, the research head of a laboratory at the Africa Health Research Institute in South Africa said on Tuesday. Still, the study showed that blood from people who had received two doses of the vaccine and had a prior infection were mostly able to neutralize the variant, suggesting that booster doses of the vaccine could help to fend off infection.Two cases of Covid-19 Omicron variant were reported in Mumbai on Monday, taking India’s total tally of the new coronavirus variant to 23. Due to the rising cases, several states have stepped up vaccination, surveillance and containment measures.(CNS)
