31,382 Fresh COVID-19 Cases In India, Marginally Lower Than Yesterday

Kerala contributed 19,682 fresh cases and 152 deaths, which took the caseload to 45,79,310 and fatalities to 24,191. The number of people who recovered from the infection since Wednesday was 20,510. There are currently 4,75,103 people under surveillance in various districts, of whom 4,52,282 are in home or institutional quarantine and 22,821 in hospitals.

With 3,320 new cases, Maharashtra's infection tally has risen to 65,34,557. The state also reported 61 fresh virus-related deaths, taking the total number of dead to 1,38,725. Maharashtra now has 39,191 active cases.

The active cases comprise of 0.89 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March last year. 62.73% of total infections reported last week were from Kerala alone, which is also the only state with over 1 lakh active Covid cases.

The national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.78 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the Union Health Ministry said. On the other hand, the daily positivity rate - number of positive cases identified per 100 - stands at two per cent. It has been less than three per cent for last 23 days.

Thirty-three districts in the country are now reporting over 10 per cent weekly positivity rate, while 23 are recording between 5-10 per cent, according to health officials.

At least 66 per cent of the eligible adult population have been inoculated with at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine while 23 per cent is fully vaccinated, according to the government. More than 65 lakh Vaccine doses administered till Thursday evening to take the total vaccine doses administered under the nationwide vaccination drive to 84 crore vaccine doses.

More than 4.29 crore unutilized vaccine doses are still available with states and union territories to be administered, the Health Ministry said. It said that further, 64 lakh doses (64,00,000) are in the pipeline.

The government on Thursday announced that "differently-abled" people and those with "restricted mobility" will be given Covid vaccine doses at their homes, reported news agency Press Trust of India.

No other country managed to do what India did in terms of its response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Supreme Court said in rich praise for the government on Thursday. India's response to the coronavirus pandemic drew intense scrutiny over thousands of deaths due to the lack of preparedness for the second wave and shortages of essentials like medical oxygen.

The coronavirus has killed at least 4,705,691 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019. The US is the worst-affected country with 673,728 deaths, followed by Brazil with 592,964, India with 4,46,368, Mexico with 272,580 and Russia with 201,445.