New Delhi:
India reported 46,759 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the country's tally to 3,26,49,947, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday. Active cases rose to 3,59,775, according to the health ministry. Kerala continues to report a record number of cases and logged 32,801 fresh infections and 179 deaths on Friday.
The South Asian country's total COVID-19 cases reached nearly 32.7 million and deaths rose by 509 to 437,370 in the last 24 hours, government data showed. Kerala, which last week celebrated a local festival, accounted for 70% of the new cases.
India administered more than 10 million vaccine doses in the past 24 hours, a national record that Prime Minister Narendra Modi called a "momentous feat" for the country ahead of fears of another surge in infections. India has administered more than 622 million vaccine doses in total, giving at least one dose to more than half of its 944 million adults.This has been achieved through 67,19,042 sessions.
The active cases comprise 1.10 per cent of the total infections. With 31,374 recoveries in the last 24 hours the cumulative tally of recovered patients has reached 3,18,52,802.
The national recovery rate was recorded at 97.56 per cent. According to the heath ministry, the death toll has climbed to 4,37,370 with 509 fresh fatalities.
The weekly positivity rate stood at 2.19 per cent, it has remained less than 3 per cent for the last 64 days now. The daily positivity rate stands at 2.66 per cent. The daily positivity rate has remained below 3 per cent for the last 33 days and below 5 per cent for 82 consecutive days now.
India’s daily count of new Covid-19 cases again crossed the 40,000 mark, driven by a rapid surge in positive cases in Kerala – which alone accounted for over 68% of total 46,164 new cases detected across the country on Wednesday.
Kerala today clocked 30,007 fresh cases, which is slightly lower than yesterday's 31,445 virus infection.
Kerala – accounting for 58.4% of total Covid-19 cases last week – is the only state reporting a surge in new Covid-19 cases, even as all other states are showing a declining trend with overall weekly positivity rate below 3% for eight consecutive weeks.
It is also the only state with more than 1 lakh active cases at present. With over 1.70 lakh active cases, Kerala alone has more than 51% of country’s total 3.33 lakh active caseload at present.
Kerala Health Minister Veena George, who reviewed the state's COVID-19 situation two days ago, today blamed the violation of home quarantine directives for the worsening situation and cautioned against the increased indoor transmission of coronavirus at homes.
The testing capacity across the country continues to be expanded. As many as 17,61,110 tests were conducted on Friday taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 51,68,87,602.