India has given nearly 140 crore COVID vaccines via 1.5 crore sessions
At 98.4%, the current COVID recovery rate is the highest since March 2020; the active caseload is the lowest since then
India, whose COVID vaccination drive over the past year has been filled with ups and downs, has now reached a coverage of 139.7 crore doses. In the 24 hours till Thursday morning alone, 70,17,671 doses were administered, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). The nearly 140 crore shots were administered via 1.47 crore inoculation sessions.
The Ministry said in a press release that the recovery of 6,960 patients in the past 24 hours had increased the cumulative tally of recovered patients (since the onset of COVID) to 3.4 crore. With this, India’s recovery rate stands at 98.4%, the highest since March 2020, it added.
#COVID19 UPDATE:
?139.70cr vaccine doses have been administered so far under Nationwide Vaccination Drive
?Recovery Rate currently at 98.40%; Highest since March 2020
Details: https://t.co/iSeTzwEfvT #IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/QvrfdnDLc6
— PIB India (@PIB_India) December 23, 2021
“Sustained and collaborative efforts by the Centre and the States/UTs (Union Territories) continue the trend of less than 15,000 daily new cases that is being reported for the last 56 days now,” said the MoHFW. “A total of 7,495 new cases were reported in the past 24 hours,” it added.
The country’s active caseload at present is 78,291, constituting 0.23% of its total positive cases, which is the lowest since March 2020.
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India has also expanded its testing capacity. The 24 hours till Thursday morning saw a total of 12,05,775 tests being conducted, said the MoHFW. Till date, India has conducted over 66.86 crore cumulative tests.
The weekly positivity rate at 0.59% remains less than 1% for the last 39 days. The daily positivity rate is 0.62%; it has been below 2% for the last 80 days and below 3% for 115 consecutive days now, the Ministry said.
Omicron spread
Amid rising concerns over the Omicron variant, the MoHFW said the total number of cases from this strain has risen to 236 nationwide. Of the total 236 Omicron patients, 104 have recovered, it added.
As of Thursday morning, India had 236 Omicron cases. The highest numbers were in Maharashtra (65), Delhi (64), Telangana (24), Rajasthan (21), Karnataka (19), Kerala (15), and Gujarat (14). Tamil Nadu and West Bengal were among the States with just one reported case each of Omicron.