Picture used for illustrative purposes only.

India saw a 282,970 rise in COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours, taking the tally to 37.9 million.

According to the health ministry, the death toll in the country reached 487,202, with 441 new fatalities recorded.

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The country has so far registered 8,961 cases of the fast-spreading Omicron variant, which is driving the third wave of the pandemic.

The third wave of the coronavirus is likely may take a maximum of three more weeks, even though the share of rural districts in new caseloads has increased significantly since December, says a report.

The country's active caseload currently stands at 1,831,000 and over 188,000 patients have recovered from Covid over the past 24 hours and the country's recovery rate is now 93.88 per cent, the Health Ministry said in its bulletin.

Infections in the top 15 districts have declined to 37.4 per cent in January, from 67.9 per cent in December.

The report, however, admitted that 10 of these top 15 districts are major cities and among them Bengaluru and Pune still have higher infection rates.