India logged 3,17,532 new coronavirus infections, the highest in 249 days, taking the total tally of Covid-19 cases to 3,82,18,773, which includes 9,287 cases of the Omicron variant, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

The active cases rose to 19,24,051, the highest in 234 days, while the death toll climbed to 4,87,693 with 491 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated. There has been a 3.63 per cent increase in Omicron cases since Wednesday, the ministry said. Experts said it is not possible to undertake genome sequencing of each and every sample but stressed that the current wave is largely being driven by Omicron.