India reports 31,923 fresh COVID cases in last 24 hrs, lowest in 6 months

As the country continues to fight the deadly Coronavirus infections, India on Thursday, September 23, has reported 31,923 fresh COVID-19 cases with 31,990 recoveries and 282 deaths in the past 24 hours. According to Union Health Ministry data, out of the total infections, the active cases account for 0.90%, the lowest since March 2020. Currently, there are 3,01,604 active cases in the county. Meanwhile, Kerala has recorded 19,675 COVID cases and 142 deaths on Monday, September 20. 

To date, 3,28,15,731 patients have recovered from COVID-19 as India’s recovery rate stands at 97.77 per cent. According to Health Ministry's data, the daily positivity rate stands at 2.09 per cent that has been less than 3 per cent for the past 24 days. While the weekly positivity rate stands at 2.11 per cent which has been below 3 per cent for the last 90 days. 

India's COVID vaccination drive

To date, India has administered a total of 83,34,67,089 COVID vaccine doses across 56,082 vaccination sites. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare announced on September 21 that states and union territories have received over 80.13 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses, with more than 4.52 crore balance and unused doses still available. In a major milestone achievement, India administered over 2.5 crore vaccine doses against Coronavirus on September 17. 

While on September 16, the Ministry informed that India has exceeded the average daily COVID-19 vaccination rate of the world's 18 major countries. The world's 18 major countries have administered 81,70,000 (8.17 million) doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. India has administered 85,40,000 (8.54 million) doses. Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Russia are among the nations on this list.

Later on September 18, the government source told ANI that India would be getting 20 crore doses of COVISHIELD and 3.5 crore doses of COVAXIN this month. The source then added that the overall target has been set to 25 crore doses per month. The source further added, "Zydus Cadila is also expected to deliver one crore doses by the month-end. This will help in speeding up the vaccination drive. There is no deficiency of vaccine."

Image: PTI