COVID-19: 12,516 new cases, 501 deaths in last 24 hours; Recovery rate at 98.26%

As per  Union Health Ministry data published on Friday, India recorded 12,516 new Coronavirus infections, bringing country's overall tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,44,14,186, while active cases fell to 1,37,416, lowest in 267 days. According to data updated at 8 am, death toll has risen to 4,62,690, including 501 new fatalities.  daily increase in new Coronavirus infections has been fewer than 20,000 for 35 days in a row, and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 138 days in a row.

active cases account for 0.40 per cent of total infections, lowest since March 2020, while national COVID-19 recovery rate was 98.26 per cent, highest since March 2020, according to ministry. In last 24 hours, active COVID-19 caseload has dropped by 1,140 cases. On August 7, 2020, India's COVID-19 tally surpassed 20 lakh, followed by 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5, and 50 lakh on September 16. It reached 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on vember 20, and one crore on December 19. On May 4, India passed two-crore mark, and on June 23, it passed three-crore mark.

COVID-19 cases in India

Meanwhile, Kerala reported 7,224 new Coronavirus infections and 419 deaths on Thursday, bringing total number of cases to 50,42,082 and number of fatalities to 35,040. With 7,638 additional persons recovering from virus since Wednesday, overall number of recoveries reached 49,36,791 and number of active cases reached 69,625, according to an official press statement. According to data from Union Health Ministry, Maharashtra reported 997 infections in last 24 hours. During day, 28 people died in state, while 1,016 patients were freed from hospitals in previous 24 hours, for a total of 64,64,948 patients discharged so far.

COVID-19 vaccination in India

According to figures released by Health Ministry at 8 am, 110.79 crore vaccine doses have been administered as part of Nationwide Vaccination Drive. second dos of COVID-19 vaccination is planned to be administered to 12 crore beneficiaries. Meanwhile, in a long-awaited study published in Lancet, Covaxin, a Coronavirus vaccine created by government's medical research ncy and Bharat Biotech, was shown to have a 77.8 per cent effectiveness rate against symptomatic COVID-19. In preliminary testing, it was also found to be 65 per cent effective against more dangerous Delta version of Coronavirus, but additional research is needed to validate this.

(With inputs from ANI/PTI)

(Im: PTI)