Coronavirus LIVE Updates: India Reported 10,549 New Cases, 488 Deaths On Friday

Covid cases in India: Active cases in India now stand at 1,10,133, the lowest in 539 days. (File)New Delhi: India reported 10,549 new COVID-19 cases and 488 related fatalities in the last 24 hours. This has increased the country’s cumulative cases to 3,45,55,431 while the death count climbed to 4,67,468. Active cases in India now stand at 1,10,133, the lowest in 539 days. The recovery rate stands at 98.33 per cent, the highest since March 2020.The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 49 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 152 consecutive days now.Meanwhile, reports of a new Covid variant, renamed Omicron, surfacing in South Africa has triggered concerns across the world, with several countries, including UK, US, Canada, Germany, France and others imposing travel bans from southern Africa. The new strain, declared as variant of concern by the World Health Organisation, has also been detected in Israel, Botswana, Belgium and Hong Kong. It is said to be much more infectious than the Delta variant and the “most heavily mutated” version of coronavirus discovered so far.Here are the LIVE Updates on Coronavirus cases in India:COVID-19 News: Saudi Arabia Bans Travel From African Nations Over New StrainSaudi Arabia on Friday was among countries in the Middle East and North Africa to ban travellers from several African nations due to fears over a new coronavirus variant, reported news agency AFP. The Saudi interior ministry and authorities in the UAE said that visitors from seven African countries were barred from entry. They listed the countries as South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho and Eswatini. The Saudi ban comprises flights to and from those countries, the official Saudi Press Agency said, quoting an interior ministry official.



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