Coronavirus / India sees 34,973 new COVID-19 cases; active cases constitute 1.18% of total cases

New Delhi: India on Friday recorded a decrease in fresh cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) with 34,973 infections in the last 24 hours, according to the Union ministry of health and family welfare. This marks a fall of 19 per cent from the 43,263 cases reported on Thursday. There were 37,875 Covid-19 cases on Wednesday. Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on Thursday that Kerala attributed 68.59 per cent of the Covid-19 cases last week. “Of the 43,263 cases reported in the past 24 hours, over 32,000 were from Kerala. Almost 68% of the total cases in last week were from Kerala. We're still witnessing the second surge, it's not over,” Bhushan said at a media briefing.

With the 34,973 fresh Covid-19 cases, the nationwide tally now stands at 33,174,954, while the death toll climbed to 442,009 with 260 daily fatalities, according to the Union health ministry. Active cases of Covid-19 rose by 2,968 to stand at 390,646 in the same period, according to data released by the health ministry at 8am. Active cases constitute 1.19 per cent of total cases and the national Covid-19 recovery rate stands 97.6 per cent, the ministry said. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 32,342,299, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.33 per cent, the health ministry said.

As many as 17,87,611 Covid-19 tests were conducted on Thursday, taking the total number of tests conducted so far to 53,86,04,854. More than 706.3 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have been provided to states and Union territories so far, the Union health ministry said on Thursday. The ministry said more than 55.8 million balance and unutilised Covid-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs to be administered.

In the ongoing nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive, 71,65,97,428 vaccine doses have been administered to eligible beneficiaries, out of which 86,51,701 doses were administered in the last 24 hours. This includes beneficiaries who, since the commencement of the nationwide drive, have received both doses, and the corresponding number of those who have been vaccinated with their first dose. “It is natural that cases will go up once tests are increased. The state should have increased tests a couple of months back,” public health expert Dr SS Lal told Hindustan Times.

The Covid-19 vaccination drive has been ramped up through the availability of more vaccines, advanced visibility of vaccine availability to states and Union territories for enabling better planning by them and streamlining the vaccine supply chain. The new phase of universalisation of vaccination commenced on June 21.