New Delhi:
India reported 35,871 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the highest in more than three months, with the worst-affected state of Maharashtra alone accounting for 65% of that.
As many as 17,741 recoveries were reported in India in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry informed on Thursday.
With the addition of fresh cases, the total number positive cases in the country reached 1,14,74,605, including 2,52,364 active cases and 1,10,63,025 recoveries.
Total infections have now risen to 11.47 million, the highest after the United States and Brazil. Deaths rose by 172 to 159,216, data from the health ministry showed.
The death toll stands at 1,59,216 including 172 in the last 24 hours. As many as 3,71,43,255 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered so far in the country.
As per the India Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 23,03,13,163 samples up to Wednesday have been tested for the coronavirus. 10,63,379 were tested yesterday.
Maharashtra which is the worst affected state in the country administered a total of 2,74,037 doses (2,22,771 – Covishield and 51266 Covaxin ) for coronavirus in 2,908 vaccination sessions.
A total of 36,39,989 people vaccinated in the state till March 17.
According to the health ministry statement today, the cumulative national positivity rate continues to remain less than five per cent and stands at 4.98 per cent today.
On the other hand, the country reaches the fast approaching total vaccination coverage of four crore. 3,71,43,255 vaccine doses have been administered through 6,15,267 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am today.
These include 75,68,844 Health Care Workers (HCWs) (1st dose), 46,32,940 HCWs (2nd dose), 77,16,084 FLWs (1st dose) and 19,09,528 FLWs (2nd Dose), 24,57,179 beneficiaries aged more than 45 years with specific co-morbidities (1st Dose) and 1,28,58,680 beneficiaries aged more than 60 years.
More than 20 lakh (20,78,719) vaccine doses were administered on day-61 of the vaccination drive till March 17.
Of the total, 17,38,750 beneficiaries were vaccinated across 28,412 sessions for the first dose (HCWs and FLWs) and 3,39,969 HCWs and FLWs received the second dose of vaccine.