India reported 12,143 new infections in the last 24 hours even as its overall tally mounted to 1,08,92,746, health officials said on Saturday. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said that there were 103 more covid related deaths, taking the overall death toll to 1,55,080.
For over two weeks, the country has recorded less than 15,000 new infections daily. Also, the daily COVID-19 death toll has been below the 200-mark for more than a month now.
On February 9, India had reported 9,110 new cases, the lowest this year so far. Last year, the lowest 9,633 cases were recorded on June 3.
As per the ministry’s data, there are 1,36,571 active cases at present after 11,395 patients were discharged in a day. Till now, 1,06,00,625 persons have been discharged.
The recovery rate has increased to 97.32 per cent, while the fatality rate is down to 1.43 per cent. The ministry also informed that 7,43,614 samples were tested on Friday.
Kerala and Maharashtra continue to account for more than 70% of all new cases in the country.
Close to 8 million (7,967,647) doses of corona vaccine doses have been administered in India since the drive began on January 16 after the approval for ‘Covishield’ and ‘Covaxin’.
A total of 2,61,309 beneficiaries took vaccine shots on Friday under the nationwide Covid immunisation drive running in the country for nearly a month, taking the inoculation tally to 77,66,319, officials said.
As per the Union Health Ministry, India has become the fastest nation in terms of vaccine doses administered in the country, even though many countries had launched their vaccination campaigns earlier than India.
Here’re more updates:
*The famed Mughal Gardens of Rashtrapati Bhavan are set to open to the public from Saturday with a display of various fauna and flora, including specially cultivated flowers that are expected to bloom in vivid colours in phases during this month.
*The number of Covid-19 related deaths in Africa has spiked as the continent grapples with local transmission of highly contagious strains of the virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.
*Chinese scientists refused to share raw data that might bring the world closer to understanding the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, independent investigators for the World Health Organization said Friday.
*Brazil health regulator approves additional AstraZeneca vaccine imports, reported Reuters.
*China’s CanSino Covid-19 vaccine has become the second Chinese vaccine to be approved by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan on Friday, Special Assistant to the Pakistani Prime Minister on Health Faisal Sultan said.
