Covid-19 update: India's tally crosses 98 lakh mark

India reported more than 30,006 new cases of covid-19 in last 24-hour, taking nation's total tally past 98 lakh mark. On the other hand, more than 1.42 lakh people have lost their lives after contracting the viral infection.

India's overall tally stood at 98,26,775 on Saturday, while the death toll have mounted to 1,42,628, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

As on date, 93,24,328 have recovered with 33,494 more people recovering in the last 24 hours. Currently, there are 3,59,819 active cases of the covid-19 infection in the country. The recovery rate stands at 94.89 per cent while the fatality rate is 1.45 as per cent.

A cumulative total of 15,26,97,399 samples have been tested for Covid-19 since the onset of the pandemic. Of these, 10,65,176 samples were tested on Friday, said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

 Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Haryana account for over 72 per cent cases in the country.

Maharashtra continues to be the worst hit state with  18,72,440 cases of covid-19. It is followed by Karnataka (8.99 lakh),  Andhra Pradesh (8.74 lakh), Tamil Nadu (7.96 lakh), Kerala (6.58 lakh and Delhi (6.03 lakh). 

Here're some more updates:

*BMC is planning to vaccinate around 1.25 lakh health care workers in 15-20 days in Mumbai.

*US FDA approved PFizer and BioNTech's covid-19 vaccine for emergency use authorisation in the country.

*Donald Trump has said that the first vaccine will be administered in less than 24 hours.

*Britain's AstraZeneca is set to try its vaccine shot with Russia's approved vaccine Sputnik V, a move that Russian scientists have been suggesting for long, saying it could boost efficacy.

*Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Friday said that the third covid wave in Delhi is seeing decline in the past few weeks. However, he advised people to take precautions.

*The Centre has asked states to limit the use of Rapid Antigen Tests to 30-40% and ensure they do not take precedence over RT-PCR tests.

Meanwhile, the overall number of global coronavirus cases has surpassed the grim milestone of 70 million mark, while the deaths have surged to more than 1.59 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University.