India’s daily COVID count above 3 lakh; active cases stand at 22.49 lakh

India logged 3,06,064 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,95,43,328, while the active cases climbed to 22,49,335, the highest in 241 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday (January 24).

With 3.06 lakh more cases, India is now the second worst affected country after the US.

The death toll has climbed to 4,89,848 with 439 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

The active cases comprise 5.69 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate decreased to 93.07 per cent, the ministry said.

An increase of 62,130 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. 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 milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.

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Maharashtra still remains the worst affected state in terms of numbers with 40,805 more cases. A total of 44 people succumbed to the infection taking the the total number of deaths so far to 1,42,115. Mumbai recorded 2,550 fresh cases and 13 deaths. Despite the rise in cases, the Maharashtra government has decided to reopen offline classes for students of pre-primary and classes 1-12. However, each district has the right to take a call on reopening schools.

Meanwhile, Delhi added 9,197 cases, which is 19 per cent lower than Sunday’scount. The positivity rate went down from 16.3 per cent on Sunday to 13.3 per cent on Monday. The city reported 35 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Karnataka recorded 50,210 cases at 8 am on Monday. The state government recently lifted the weekend curfew. Tamil Nadu registered 30,580 cases, marginally less than Sunday’s count.

In Kerala, the daily count crossed 45,000 for the second day in a row on Sunday. With 45,449 new cases, the number of infected patients in Kerala stands at 56,20,151.

India’s vaccination coverage touched 162 crore doses on Monday morning. At least 72 per cent of India’s adult population is fully vaccinated while 52 per cent of children in the 15-18 years old age group have been inoculated with the first dose of vaccine till date.

(With inputs from agencies)