Coronavirus Cases: India Witnesses Single-Day Rise Of 16,326 New COVID Infections, 666 Fatalities Reported

The daily new COVID cases in Kerala continued to fluctuate as on Friday 9,361 people turned positive. On Wednesday, the new cases stood at 11,150, while on Thursday, they came down to 8,733.

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New Delhi: India saw a single-day rise of 16,326 new COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 3,41,59,56, while the active cases have declined to 1,73,728, the lowest in 233 days, according to the Union health ministry's data updated on Saturday.

17,677 recoveries in the last 24 hours increase total recoveries to 3,35,32,126.

The death toll has climbed to 4,53,708 with 666 daily fatalities, according to the data.

Notably, out of the 666 deaths, Kerala has a share of 563 deaths as the state added backlog of previous fatalities to the tally. 

"99 deaths were reported yesterday. In addition, 292 deaths (reported till June 14, 2020, but not recorded due to lack of adequate documentation) and 172 deaths (reported as per the new guidelines of Union government) were added to the total tally. Total death toll 27,765": Kerala Health Department clarified on Saturday, as reported by ANI.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 30,000 for 28 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 117 consecutive days now.

The active cases have increased to 1,73,728 comprising 0.51 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.16 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the health ministry stated.

Also, 13,64,681 tests were conducted on Friday, taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 59,84,31,162.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.20 per cent. It has been less than two per cent for the last 19 days.

The weekly positivity rate was also recorded at 1.24 per cent. It has been less than two per cent for the last 29 days, according to the health ministry.

101.30 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under the Nationwide Vaccination Drive.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5, and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

India crossed the grim two crore-mark on May 4 and three crore-mark on June 23.

Coronavirus Cases In States

Maharashtra reported 1,632 new coronavirus cases, slightly up from a day ago, and 40 fresh fatalities on Friday, while 1,744 patients recovered from the infection in the state, the health department said.

Eight districts out of the total 36 did not report any fresh case of the respiratory disease.

With the addition of new cases and deaths, the state's COVID-19 tally rose to 65,99,850, while the toll increased to 1,39,965.

On Thursday, the state had recorded 1,573 new coronavirus cases and 39 fatalities.

The case fatality rate in Maharashtra stands at 2.12 per cent, the department said.

With 1,744 patients discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, the number of recovered cases increased to 64,32,138, it said.

There are now 24,138 active cases in the state, whose coronavirus recovery rate stands at 97.46 per cent.

Meanwhile, the daily new COVID cases in Kerala continued to fluctuate as on Friday 9,361 people turned positive after 80,393 samples were tested in the past 24 hours, and the test positivity rate was 11.64 per cent, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan informed in a statement.

On Wednesday, the new cases stood at 11,150, while on Thursday, they came down to 8,733.

The active cases in the state were 80,892, of which 9.8 per cent patients were in hospitals.

Friday saw 99 more COVID deaths being reported taking the death toll to 27,765.

On the other hand, Delhi on Friday recorded one death due to COVID-19 and 38 fresh cases with a positivity rate of 0.07 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department.

The national capital has recorded four fatalities due to the coronavirus infection so far this month, with the previous three deaths being reported on October 2, October 10 and October 19.

The COVID-19 death toll in Delhi has risen to 25,091.

Only five fatalities due to the coronavirus infection were reported last month -- one each on September 7, September 16 and September 17, and two on September 28 -- according to official figures.

On Friday, 38 cases were recorded with a positivity rate of 0.07 per cent, according to the latest health bulletin.

The number of cumulative cases on Friday stood at 14,39,526. Over 14.14 lakh patients have recovered from the infection.

(With Inputs From Agencies)