India clocks 42,000 cases; positivity rate 2.50 per cent

India recorded 42,618 fresh COVID-19 cases single day, taking the overall infection count to 3,29,45,907. The number of active cases touched 4,05,681, following an increase for the fourth consecutive day, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

The number of active cases rose, as India reported 5903 more cases than it reported on Friday, according to the ministry data.

The total death toll climbed to 4,40,225 with 330 more people succumbing to the viral disease in a day, showed the data updated at 8 am on Saturday.

“The number of active cases now comprise 1.23 percent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.43 percent,” the ministry said.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.50 percent and the weekly positivity rate was 2.63 percent. It has been below three percent for the past 71 days.

As many as 17,04,970 tests were conducted on Friday taking the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country to 52,82,40,038.

A total of 67.72 crore vaccine doses have been administered under the nationwide vaccination drive so far.

Also read: India logs 47,092 new COVID cases, biggest single-day spike in 2 months

Of the 330 fatalities recorded in a day, 131 are from Kerala and 92 from Maharashtra.

Of the total deaths in the country, 1,37,643 are from Maharashtra, 37,380 from Karnataka, 34,980 from Tamil Nadu, 25,082 from Delhi, 22,854 from Uttar Pradesh, 21,280 from Kerala and 18,483 from West Bengal.

The Union Health Ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

“Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research,” the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7 last year, 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 this year and three crore on June 23.