India reports 18,870 fresh COVID-19 cases, 378 new fatalities in last 24 hours

As per the latest data released by the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday, India reported 18,870 new COVID-19 cases and 378 new deaths in 24 hours. This brings the country's total COVID count to 3,37,16,451 and the associated death toll to 4,47,751.

With Wednesday's addition, India now has 2,82,520 active COVID-19 cases, the lowest in recent days. The active caseload accounts for 0.84% of all infections. In the last 24 hours, 28,178 persons have recovered from the virus, bringing India's overall recovery to 3,29,86,180.

The recovery rate in India was 97.83% on Wednesday, according to the Union Health Ministry. In terms of COVID-19 testings, a total of 56,74,50,185 samples were tested up to September 28, with 15,04,713 samples tested on September 28 alone, according to ICMR data released on Wednesday.

COVID-19 situation in states

Kerala has the most infections with 11,196 cases, followed by Tamil Nadu with 1,630 cases, Mizoram with 1,380 cases, Andhra Pradesh with 771 cases, and West Bengal with 708 cases. Kerala recorded 11,196 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, according to a press release from the state health department. With 149 more deaths, the death toll reached 24,810. In the meantime, the state reported 18,849 recoveries. In the last 24 hours, 96,436 samples were tested.

COVID vaccination in India

Concerning the COVID-19 vaccination, India has successfully administered 87,66,63,490 crores of COVID-19 vaccines as part of the world's largest inoculation campaign. In the last 24 hours, 54,13,332 of these were administered. More than eight months after launching the COVID-19 vaccination program, India completed delivering both doses of the vaccine to over 25% of the estimated adult population on Tuesday.

More than 53 lakh vaccination doses were administered on Tuesday, bringing the total to 87.59 crore, according to preliminary data. With Tuesday's immunisations, an estimated 68% of the adult population has received their first dosage, and 24.61% is fully vaccinated. As of Tuesday evening, India has provided 876.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccination to 642.5 million people, ranking second only to China (1.1 billion people vaccinated) in terms of the number of people who have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, said reports.

(Image: PTI/Representative)