Zoom News : Oct 19, 2021, 11:34 AM
New Delhi: India recorded 13,058 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the lowest in 231 days, data published by the Union health ministry at 8am showed on Tuesday. This took the total number of Covid-19 cases reported in the country so far to 3,40,94,373, with the active infections standing at 1,83,118 (lowest in 227 days). Kerala remains the highest contributor as it reported 6,676 new cases in the last 24 hours.Meanwhile, 164 people succumbed to Covid-29 in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 4,52,454, the health ministry data further showed. Of total deaths, Kerala alone accounted for 60 deaths.A total of 19,470 people recuperated from the disease, sending the national recovery rate to 98.14 per cent, highest since March 2020, the ministry further said.While the weekly positivity rate (1.37% per cent) has been less than 3 per cent for the last 115 days, the daily positivity rate (1.37 per cent) has been less than 3 per cent for 49 days. The active cases now account for less than 1 per cent of total cases and it is lowest since March 2020 which is currently at 0.54 per cent.According to the health ministry, the country has so far tested 59.31 crore total samples for Covid-29. A total of 98.67 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under Nationwide Vaccination Drive.Meanwhile, as India awaits a nod for its indegenious vaccine Covaxin, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday said it cannot "cut corners" in making a decision. "We are aware that many people are waiting for WHO’s recommendation for Covaxin to be included in the #COVID19 Emergency Use Listing, but we cannot cut corners," the WHO said on Twitter.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.