India reports 8,603 fresh coronavirus cases

 India logged a daily spike of 8,603 Covid cases on Saturday, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,46,24,360. India also recorded 415 new deaths, pushing the total death count to 4,70,530.

The active cases increased to 99,974, according to the latest Health Ministry data.

India also for the first time reported ‘Omicron’ cases with two cases being detected in Karnataka.

The new strain of the virus has triggered a global alarm with several countries announcing restrictions to arrest the spread of the ‘Variant of Concern’, declared by the World Health Organisation (WHO).