New Delhi: India registered 13,091 new Covid-19 infections in a span of 24 hours taking the total tally of cases to 3,44,01,670, while the active cases declined to 1,38,556, the lowest in 266 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.
India recorded a single-day rise of 11,466 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday.
However, the fatalities climbed to 4,62,189 with 340 fresh deaths, according to the data updated at 8 am. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 34 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 137 consecutive days now.
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The active cases comprise 0.40 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the recovery rate was recorded at 98.25 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said. Over 11.89 lakh COVID-19 tests were conducted in India in the last 24 hours, informed the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Thursday.
A decrease of 1,127 cases has been recorded in the active Covid-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The total 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.
Meanwhile, in a latest development emergency use authorisation for the Merck drug Molnupiravir, an oral antiviral medicine for the treatment of mild-to-moderate Covid-19 , is likely to be through "within days", according to Dr Ram Vishwakarma, chairman of the Covid Strategy Group, CSIR. The medicine is developed for adults who are at risk for progressing to severe Covid-19 or hospitalization. Another pill from Pfizer, Paxlovid, may take some more time, Dr Ram Vishwakarma told NDTV.